The Final Tales
by Mrfipp
Summary: And thus, the FF heroes get their chances. Various drabbles on the FF heroes entering the KH series. Takes place at any point in the KH timeline. Will be updated when XIV comes out.
1. X

Fipp: And here is my next story, inspired by the fact since I have gained interest in Dissidia, I have wondered what other characters' roles would be in Kingdom Hearts.

I'm only doing I-X, since XI in an online game, XII takes place in Ivalice, which is its own separate world, and I don't know enough about XIII to say much.

Though I am curious as to how three games under the same name, have nothing to do with each other.

**X**

_Tidus and Yuna, Rikku, Paine, and Kimahri Ronso_

Tidus breathed in the air of the city.

It took a while, but he managed to convince Sora, who readily agreed, and Riku, who took a whole week to convince, for a trip off Destiny Islands, and to a place called 'Radiant Garden'.

Soon after arriving, he, Wakka and Selphie had separated from Sora, Kairi and Riku to explore the city on their own.

So far, he had explored the city, and had come to the conclusion that he had liked it, though he did have a very unpleasant experience with a moogle when he kicked his moogle-blitz ball into the air out of boredom, and found himself being chased by the little thing, as it wielded a very large spear.

It was due to this exhaustion from running from the moogle, that his normally keen-senses that had always helped him avoid flying balls to the head, did not help him when a small object crashed right into his head, sending him to the ground.

"Ow! Dammit!" he hissed, sitting up and rubbing his head. "What hit me?"

"Ouchie!" cried a small voice. Tidus looked down to see a very small person sitting next to him, also clutching her head. "That really hurt."

"Um, are you okay?" Tidus asked, poking the small person in the shoulder, and knocking her over.

"Ow! Don't do that!" she said, quickly flying into the air. "That hurt!"

"Oh, um, sorry," Tidus said, standing back up. "Hey, what am I apologizing for? You're the one who flew into me!" He pointed at the small fairy.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident," she said, bowing her head. "I was playing a game with my friends, and things kind of got out of hand and I was sent flying through the air, and right into your head."

Tidus shook his head. "No, it's okay. It was an accident after all, and no harm was done."

The little fairy smiled. "Thank you, um, I'm sorry, I didn't catch you name."

Tidus laughed and pointed his thumb at himself. "My name is Tidus!"

She giggled. "My name is Yuna." She then cocked her head. "Are you new here? I've never seen you before around the city."

"Yeah," Tidus explained. "I'm from a place called Destiny Islands, I'm here with some friends of mine who've been here before."

"You are?" Yuna asked. She then spun around several times before turning back to Tidus. "Where are they?"

Tidus gave a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, well, we just kind of split up when we arrived."

"That doesn't sound very smart."

"Yeah, I know that now." He scratched the back of his head again. "So, um, I hope this doesn't sound impersonal or offensive, but . . ."

"But what?"

"Why are you so small? I mean, from what my friend told me, there's a lot of weird things off my world, but,"

"Oh, this isn't my real size."

"Huh?"

"My friends and I use this things called 'Dresspheres', which allow use to so a lot of different things. We use the 'Fairy' one, which turns us from normal sized people into this, a lot because it's lots of fun."

"Okay," he said slowly, not really understanding what she had just said.

She laughed again. "Well, I better get going. Have a nice day Tidus, I hope we see each other again real soon." With one final bow she quickly flew away.

"See ya!" he waved goodbye to her. When Yuna was gone he stuffed his hands into his pockets and started to walk away.

Well, he was going to do that, but he quickly turned them inside-out.

"DAMMIT!"

000

"He certainly had a lot of munny on him," Rikku said, looking into the pouch of munny that she and Paine had nicked from that guy Yuna was distracting.

"He was utterly oblivious. He should pay attention to his surroundings more," Paine responded.

"Yunie!" Rikku called as Yuna rounded the corner. "What took you so long?"

"Um, sorry, I got a little too distracted, while I was distracting him," Yuna apologized.

"You're too sociable," Paine said, folding her arms over her chest.

Yuna laughed nervously. "Hey, I was thinking," she said with slight hesitation.

"What were you thinking?" Rikku asked.

"Maybe we should give him back his munny,"

"WHAT?!" Rikku squeaked. "But we won it fair and square!"

"Actually, we stole it," Paine stated.

"Still!"

"Oh come on, he's new to the city, and look at him," she gestured to around the corner to where they saw Tidus panicking over his lost munny.

Paine sighed. "Fine."

"Poopie," Rikku huffed.

Yuna smiled and took the munny pouch from them and flew back to Tidus.

"We better go follow her," Pain said, following where Yuna left for. "She'll most likely introduce us to him sooner or later."

"Pid E tuh'd fyhhy!" (1)

Paine only grabbed her by the ear and pulled her towards Tidus and Yuna.

000

"Man, I can't thank you enough," Tidus said, putting the munny back into his pockets.

"It's no problem, we were glad to help," Yuna smiled.

"You're on your own next time this happens," Paine said.

Rikku muttered something obscene under her breathe.

"What's with her?" Tidus asked.

Rikku was about to rudely retort to him when Paine elbowed her in the ribs.

"Hey, how I'd like to thank you three for finding this, so how about some lunch? On me!"

"Okay!" Rikku said, now liking this guy. "Ooh! I just know where to go!" She flew off.

"I'll go get her," Paine sighed, and chased after the blonde.

"Thank you very much," Yuna said. "Just let me," she said, before she was swallowed by a flash of light. When it faded, Yuna was now a normal sized person, save several inches shorter then Tidus himself.

"Wha!" Tidus went, surprised by the sudden transformation. "Oh, that's the thing you were talking about earlier?"

Yuna nodded. "Yes it is."

"Well, we'd better go find you friends," Tidus turned around to look for where Rikku and Pain went, when he bumped into a large mass. "What the-" he looked up, and instantly paled.

Standing right in front of him was a very tall, blue-furred creature with a broken horn jutting out from his forehead. Tidus felt very intimidated by this creature, and the large spear strapped to his back did not help at all.

"Kimahri!" Yuna cheered to his surprise, as she ran forward.

"You know this guy?" Tidus said, taking several steps back from this 'Kimahri'.

"I do, he's sort of like a guardian to me," Yuna explained. She turned to head to meet with Kimahri's eyes. "Kimahri, this is Tidus, and he was kind enough to by myself, Rikku and Paine lunch for helping him find his munny. Would you care to join us?"

Kimahri said nothing, but turned back to Tidus, who continued to be scared.

"Hi," he said meekly.

Kimahri said nothing and turned around and went off into the direction that Rikku and Paine left.

"You have to forgive Kimahri," Yuna said. "He's never been much of a talker."

"Yeah, I can see that."

Yuna then grabbed Tidus by the wrist pulled him towards where her three companions left.

_Wakka and Lulu_

"Donald! Goofy!" Sora called, spotting his two friends up the street, and ran up after them.

"Sora!" Goofy happily called.

"What are you two doing here?" Sora asked when he had reached them.

"King Mickey asked Donald and me to make sure everything was fine and dandy here," Goofy explained. "And so far, everything seems fine."

Donald mumbled something.

"What's wrong with Donald?" Sora whispered to Goofy. "He seems grumpier than usual."

"I am not grumpy!" Donald yelled very loudly, gaining the attention of every person around them.

"What's with you?"

"I'm just stuck babysitting," Donald growled.

"Babysitting?" Sora asked, eyebrow raised. He then turned to Goofy. "Who's he babysitting?"

Goofy chuckled. "Donald's not actually babysitting someone, he just got a, um, what'd King Mickey call it again?"

"An apprentice," Donald growled.

"You have an apprentice?" Sora asked. "Why?"

"It's something all wizards have to do, so we can pass on our knowledge to."

"Then why are you so upset?"

"Because only person who answered to the ad, and she doesn't worship the ground Donald walks on," Goofy chuckled.

"They're supposed to be like that," Donald sulked. "King Mickey always speaks so highly of Yen Sid."

"So you wanted an apprentice, just so they could worship the ground you walk on?"

"He did."

"I don't get it!" Donald squawked. "She's supposed to revere me! But she doesn't care about a thing I say unless it has to do with teaching!"

"She kind of scares me," Goofy said. "She scares Donald sometimes too, and sometimes she gives _him _the orders. And he listens to them!"

"Really?" Sora's eye twitched in fright. "She must be scary then."

"Are you Sora?" asked a voice from behind.

Sora turned around to see a girl that was slightly older then himself, dressed entirely in black, complete with an odd skirt fashioned entirely out of belts. Her appearance would have been more frightening, had it not been for the moogle doll hanging in her hand.

"Hi Lulu!" Goofy waved. "Sora, this is Donald's apprentice, Lulu."

"Hello Goofy," Lulu said.

"You're supposed to greet me first!" Donald hissed.

Lulu ignored him. "You are Sora, correct?"

"I am."

"Good, then I believe that this belongs to you then." She then stepped to the side to reveal a sulking Wakka.

"Wakka?!" Sora stuttered.

"Hey Sora," Wakka said in a downed manner.

"I found him being an utter idiot in the bazaars, I was going to leave him, but he mentioned your name, which I have heard from Sir Goofy and Donald-"

"She's _supposed _to address me as Master Donald."

"-So I decided to bring him over to you before he caused any more trouble."

"I wasn't causing trouble, ya!"

"Be quiet."

"Yes ma'am."

Sora, Donald and Goofy sweat dropped.

_Auron_

Auron shouldered his sword as he walked away from where he had just battled the large Heartless. He had things to do, and he couldn't let something like that slow him down.

How long had it been? Oh, yeah, he had been in Hades' dungeon for a decade.

He stopped in his tracks, and looked up into the sky.

Was it still up there? Sin?

The Heartless of a whole world that fell into the darkness.

It was created long ago, a thousand years ago, and since then has been destroying worlds with no apparent end.

When Radiant Garden had fallen, numerous Gummi Ships had fled the world to seek refuge where they could, but Sin appeared out of nowhere and destroyed many of the ships.

Including the ship that held the wife of a dear friend of his

Several years later, after hearing that Sin had caused more destruction, and that there was a witch out there who wanted to control all of the Heartless, he and his friend had left the latter's daughter in the care of a trusted companion to search for, and destroy Sin.

But they had unwittingly gained a third party member, a burly drunk.

He had said that had been out for a midnight swim, when there was a meteor shower, and the next thing he knew, he was in a distant land, and had been looking for a way home.

Auron had opposed the man to joining them, but his friend had said it was okay, that maybe they could help him find his home. The swordsmen reluctantly agreed to let the stranger join them.

The three of them traveled together for a long time and had become close to each other (even when the third man ended up in a drunken bar fight).

Then one day, they managed to encounter Sin.

They fought the beast.

They lost to the beast.

Auron remembered what had happened then.

His friend, had told them of a powerful technique of his, something that could win, but at a great cost.

He had the power to summon powerful creatures, and had exhausted this power during the battle, but this one spell could save them.

He could gain access to one powerful summon, by changing a person into a summon.

Auron was about to volunteer, but the man spoke first.

He said that even though he wanted to go home, he knew that if Sin was alive, it'd find its way there sooner or later.

Auron objected to this, and wanted to become the summon.

The man told him to back-off, said that he was still a kid you had much to experience.

So it was done, and the man was transformed into a powerful summon, and slayed Sin with ease.

But that wasn't it.

Sin, as it turned out, was not the real foe, but was only armor worn by the real creature, Yu Yevon, a small spirit who had been responsible for his world's death.

Yu Yevon then took control of the friend-turned-summon, and used its power to kill his friend, and mortally wound Auron himself.

Auron wasn't too sure what had happened next, but the next thing he knew, he was in the world known as the Olympus Coliseum, and he died, and was cursed to spend the next ten years in the Underworld.

Auron continued onward.

Maybe he could finally put an end to this story.

(1) Al Bhed Translation: But I don't wanna!

Please review

Mrfipp


	2. IX

Fipp: Now for the next chapter!

Also, I found a great FFIX fandub on YouTube by Actorman999. Check it out.

**IX**

_Vivi Orunitia_

"So what do ya say? You gonna joins us?"

The man thought for several moments, looking over the one who asked him. "No," he answered, turning around.

"Hey! Don't you walk away from me!" the man yelled, pointing a finger at the other one. "Do you even realize what I'm offering you! You know what kind of power you could gain working with Maleficent?!"

The man stopped. "Maleficent, you say?" He gave a curious smile and looked back to the obese man, what was his name? Oh yes, Pete.

"Yup!" Pete said proudly, putting his hands on his hips. "You got that right Kuja!"

'_What a fool,'_ Kuja thought. _'He doesn't know the crone is dead. I could tell him now, but I'm sure it'll be much more fun if he finds out later._

"If you join us," Pete continued, "you get control of the Heartless!"

'_The same things that did her in.'_

"I refuse." Kuja began to walk away.

"What?! But the Heartless will do whatever you want! And they're extremely powerful!"

"Oh yes, I've heard about Heartless. I don't like such disgusting creatures. I've come up with something much more useful than those things." Kuja snapped his fingers, and a small figure appeared in front of Pete.

"Uh, what the heck is that?" he asked, scratching his head. What was this tiny little thing with a pointy hat. "Why'd choose these over the Heartless?"

"I call it, a 'Black Mage'," Kuja said. "And as to why I prefer them over the Heartless," Kuja smirked.

The Black Mage then pointed its hands at Pete, and fired a massive fireball at him, sending his flying into a wall.

"Owie!" Pete cried out. "That's it! I'm outta here!" Pete snapped his fingers, opening a portal of darkness, which he hand into.

The Black Mage followed him and closed.

"Such a pity," Kuja sighed to himself. "That was a prototype. Oh well," he flipped his feathery hair, "I better be off to my work than."

000

The Black Mage ran through the portal, and found itself standing in what a city.

It looked around for Pete, only to be struck across the back of the head, and sent crashing into a wall.

"HA!" Pete laughed, walking up to the downed Mage. "Like this thing could beat the Mighty Pete!"

He raised his fist, ready to crush the Mage, when something hit him in the back of his head. "Wha?" He turned around to see that three people standing there.

"What do you three punks what?" Pete growled.

The one in the center smirked. "You know, I really hate it when someone picks on a defenseless kid."

Pete growled. "You little brats. You know what? I don't need any of this stuff!" Darkness wrapped around Pete, and he was gone.

"Should we check on him?" the larger of the three asked.

"Hurt," said the only female amongst them.

"Yeah, looks like it," the first person said. They walked up to the Mage an kneeled down next to him. "Yo, kid, you okay?"

The Mage slowly opened its eyes at looked up at the three.

_Quina Quen_

Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked down the soggy path.

"How did we get lost?" Donald asked.

"Easy; we got lost on our way to the mansion!" Goofy pointed out.

"Don't remind me," Sora hung his head. "And now we're in a swamp."

"I think we should take a right."

"How 'bout a left?"

"Straight?"

"What about we-" Donald couldn't finish this sentences, as a frog jumped out of the water, and onto his face. "WAAAKK! Get it off me! Get it off me!" he cried, tripping, and landing in the water.

"Donald!" Sora and Goofy cried, running to the water's edge. Donald emerged from the water.

"Are you okay?" Sora asked.

Donald growled as the frog jumped off his hat, and into Sora's hand. He said something that Sora assumed was a curse to the swamp.

"Yummy!" cried a voice from behind them. They turned around and saw what looked like a large marshmallow in an apron, chef's hat, and its tongue hanging almost towards the ground. It waked up to Sora and pointed at the frog in his hand. "Yummy!" it called out.

"Um, hello," Sora said, unsure of what this was. "Hey! Can you help us out?"

"Help?" the thing asked.

"Yeah, we're lost, and we're wondering if you can help us back to town."

The thing appeared to think for several minutes. "Okay! I help!"

"Great!"

"You give yummy! I help!"

"Yummy?"

The thing then picked the frog out of Sora's hand and gobbled it whole.

"Now go!" the thing then walked away, prompting Sora, Donald and Goofy out of the swamp.

000

"It's great to be out of there," Donald sourly said, wringing the water out of his hat.

"Thanks for getting us out of there-" Sora turned around to face the thing, but saw it was already gone. "Huh? Where'd it go?"

"I don't know," Goofy asked, scratching his head. "Maybe we'll see him, her, it, um, whatever it was, again."

"Yeah, maybe."

000

The three of them had been walking down Radiant Garden's streets, when they were attack by Heartless, which they had just defeated.

"That's done with," Sora said.

"Hey, what's that?" Donald pointed across the street.

There, they saw they saw the thing from the swamp.

"It's that guy," Sora said.

Suddenly a Shadow appeared in front of it, and attacked, and to the surprise of the trio, it ate it, only to cough it up moments later.

"Not yummy." It then walked off, leaving the trio in confusion.

_Eiko Carol_

"This is a real weird world, isn't it?" Sora asked Donald and Goofy.

"I think Leon said that Traverse Town was made up of a bunch of different world," Donald said. "So of course there's going to be a lot of different terrains."

An hour ago, Sora had decided to explore the areas outside Traverse Town's wall, and was surprised to discover a large amount of scene changes, ranging from mountains, beaches, deserts, and not a forest. All within the short time they had begun to explore.

"How many worlds do you think the Heartless destroyed to make this place?" Sora asked sadly, mostly to himself.

Hearing this, Donald and Goofy turned away, the same heaviness weighting down on their hearts.

"Kupo!" cried out a voice from a shaking bush. The three of them drew their weapons, prepared to fight a Heartless, only to be surprised for a moogle to show up.

"Is that a moogle?" Sora asked.

"I think it is," Goofy answered. "What's this little fella doing all the way out here?"

"You have to help me, kupo!" the moogle yelled, flying up to Sora's face. "Help kupo!"

"What do you want help with?" Sora asked.

"She's going to fall out of the tree! Kupo!" The moogle then flew off the way it came.

"We'd better see what's going on." Donald and Goofy nodded and followed Sora as he chased after the moogle.

000

The trio ran into a clearing and found the moogle worryingly circle a tree.

"Don't worry kupo!" it cried up the tree. "I found help!"

"You did?" said a voice from up the tree. "Good! It's about time!"

"Who's up there?" Sora asked as the three of them walked up to the base of the tree.

"Look out below!" Suddenly a weight then dropped on Donald, crashing him to the ground.

"Ow," Donald groaned.

"Thank you," said the small person that landed on him; a little girl with baggy clothes, purple hair and, what Sora found odd, a small horn poking out from her forehead.

"You okay?" he asked the girl.

"Yeah, thanks." She jumped off Donald, causing him more discomfort. "Is he okay?" She poked Donald with her foot.

"Yeah, not the first time something landed on him," Goofy answered with a chuckle.

"Hey, what are you doing out here, all alone?" Sora asked, kneeling down next to her. "Aren't you afraid that the Heartless will come?"

"Hmp," she said, crossing her arms. "I'm not afraid of those things! I can keep can keep care of myself!" She turned around, to proudly march away, only to trip on a root and fall flat on her face.

"HA!" Donald laughed, only to have an acorn thrown at him.

"Who are you guys anyway?!" the girl yelled.

"They came to help you out Eiko, kupo," the moogle said.

"I know that Mog," Eiko said, placing her hands on her hips. "But just were did they come from?"

"We came from Traverse Town," Sora answered.

"Traverse Town? What's that?"

"It's a small town not that far away," Sora pointed his thumb behind him. "It's like an hour that way."

"Uh, what?" Eiko answered dumbly.

"Didn't you know there was a town there?" Goofy asked.

Eiko then turned to Mog, and began to strangle him. "Dammit! Why the hell didn't you tell me that there was a town there!?"

"I didn't know, kupo!" Mog cried.

"Hey, you won't to come with us?" Sora asked.

Eiko stopped the moogle abuse and stared at Sora. "What?"

"It must get pretty lonely out here, I thought that you'd maybe like to be around other people."

Eiko was silent for several moments. "It is lonely," she said quietly.

"Then let's go," Sora said, holding out his hand. Eiko hesitantly took it.

000

Sora sat on the steps leading into Merlin's Radiant Garden residence, looking down at the summon charm in his hand.

These summons were different than the ones he uses last year, and he found some difficulty in using them.

Maybe he could ask Eiko for advice.

_Amarant Coral_

The trio walked through the streets of Twilight Town.

"Yo," said a gruff voice from behind them. They turned around to see a rather tall man with oddly blue skin, and a mess of red dreadlocks. "You three Sora, Donald and Goofy?" he asked.

"Yeah, we are. Why do you want to know?" Sora responded.

"Good." The man then began to crack his knuckles. "I'm the Flaming Amarant, and I'm here to fight."

"Fight? Why?"

Amarant did not respond. He only rushed forward and swung the first punch at Goofy, but the knight quickly brought his shield out and managed to guard against it. Donald then cast a fire spell at Amarant, but the man then jumped into the air and landed behind Sora and kicked him.

Sora managed to right himself up and pulled the Keyblade out, and blocked a strike from Amarant, who had quickly traversed the distance he had kicked him.

They fought for several more minutes, having difficulty with the man's pure strength, but proved victorious in the end.

Amarant kneeled down on the ground, breathing heavily.

"Looks like you guys are good," he said.

"You're not so bad yourself," Sora said; he, Donald and Goofy holding their weapons out.

Amarant then stood up. "I did what I came here to do." He then turned around and began to walk away.

"Wait!" Sora called, causing Amarant to stop. "What did you have to do that? Fight us?"

The man snorted. "Some fat guy paid me to fight you. He originally wanted me to kill you, but that ain't my style. I was only paid enough for one fight, so that's all I'm going to do for now. But you beat me, so expect me coming back for a rematch. And soon." He began to walk away, leaving the three alone.

_Freya Crescent_

The three walked down the streets of Radiant Garden.

"Halt," said a voice. The three turned around to see a tall, rat-like person, dressed in a heavy red coat, and a red, armored hat, and messy silver hair covering most of her face. There was also a ribbon tied around the end of her tail. "Would I be correct in assuming that you are the Keyblade wielder?" she asked.

"Um, yeah." Sora demonstrated this by summoning his Keyblade.

The woman nodded. "I've heard, that you are strong. Is this true?"

"Of course he's strong!" Donald butted in. "The Keyblade wouldn't choose anyone who's weak!"

"Thank you. May I ask you of a favor?"

"What kind of favor?" Goofy asked.

"I would like to fight you. To see if the claims to your power are indeed true."

Sora gave this a moments thought. "Okay. But you have to tell me your name first."

She nodded. "That sounds fair; My name is Freya Crescent." Freya then pulled out a long spear, with a very sharp blade at the end of it.

She was the first one to make a move, by jumping high into the air, and when she reached the pinnacle of her ascension, she quickly dove down, the spearhead pointing down. She crashed into the ground, resulting in a large shockwave that knocked all three of them to the ground.

Sora was the first to jump up, and just in luck as Freya stabbed the ground where he sat.

The fight was hard for them, as Freya would often jump into the air, resulting in powerful shockwaves when she landed back to the ground.

When it was over, Freya put her spear away. "You really are strong."

"Thanks," Sora said. "You're not so bad yourself." He dismissed his weapon. "But why did you want to fight us?"

Freya turned her head away. "I am looking for someone, very important to me. He had left many years ago, so that he could become stronger, so he could defend our home much better."

"If you're looking for someone, then why fight us?"

"One way of becoming stronger, is to defeat the strong. Word of your prowess has reached many ends, so it would make sense that he would come to you sooner or later. Have you fought anyone who hails from the land of Burmecia?"

Sora shook his head. "I'm sorry, we haven't met anyone from there."

Freya bowed his head and gave a heavy sigh. "Then it would seem that though I have come to you too early. If you do meet someone though-"

"Tell them that you're looking for them?" Sora said. "We can do that."

"Thank you," Freya said, turning around and walking away.

_Adelbert Steiner and Garnet til Alexandros XVII_

The trio walked through the Twilight Town shopping district. They had just replenished their supply of potions, eithers and elixirs.

"I think we've got enough supplies," Sora said, patting his pockets.

"Now that we've got everything," Donald said. "Now we can get-" They turned a corner, and were crashed into by a large, clanking metal wall.

There was pained groaning for several moments, before Donald jumped back up. "HEY! Watch where you're going!"

"Watch where I'm going?" said the person who crashed into them, a large man in clanky armor said. "You should watch where YOU are going!"

"Why you," Donald growled as both he and the man glared at each other, creating much friction in the air.

It was the man who broke off first. "I don't have time to mess around with rapscallions like you! I have much more important matters to attend to!" The man then ran off.

"Why that little-" Donald hissed.

"Yeah! The nerve of that guy!" Goofy said in an annoyed tone of voice. "Who does he think he is, calling us scallops?"

"Rapscallions!"

"Just who was that guy?" Sora asked.

"Well I'm going to find out!" Donald yelled, chasing after where the man went.

"Hey! Donald! Stop!" Goofy called, chasing after the wizard.

"Wait! Guys!" Sora called, too late though, as they had already disappeared. He hung his head. "Might as well find out where they went." He ran after his friends.

000

"Donald! Goofy! Where are you two!?" Sora called, walking down one of the alleys. "Just where did those two head off to?" He looked around, trying to see if he could spot them. "Maybe I should ask someone if they've seen them." He looked around the alley, and spotted someone. "Hey! Excuse me!" He ran to the person, a short girl in orange, and long brown hair.

"Yes," the girl said, turning around to meet him.

"I'm looking for a couple of friends of mine; one's tall and smiles a lot, while the other's short and gets angry a lot."

She shook her head. "Sorry, but I haven't seen anyone like that."

"Are you sure? They were chasing after this real big guy in armor."

The girl then gasped. "Armor?"

"Yeah!" Sora shook his head. "Yeah! Do you know him?"

She nodded. "Yes I do. That's Steiner, he's supposed to be my bodyguard."

"Bodyguard? Are you looking for him too?"

She shook her head. "No, not really. I actually had to get away from him for a while."

"Why would you want to run away from your bodyguard, um," Sora then realized he didn't know her name.

"You can call me Dagger," she answered.

"Why would you want to ditch your bodyguard?"

"Well, I'm kind of trying to get somewhere right now, and Steiner wants to bring me home."

"Didn't you tell him you had somewhere to go?"

"I did, but he cares a great deal about his duty to protect me, and while his heart is in the right place, his head isn't always."

"I see," Sora said. "Well, I hope you get to where it is you want to get." Sora turned around, as did Dagger, and they began to walk in opposite directions.

Just as Sora was about to walk down the ramp, the bodyguard, Steiner, burst through the archway leading to sandlot.

"Oh where is she!" he cried in worry to himself. "I have to find the princess!" He then ran up the ramp Sora was on, and into the direction Dagger had walked off to.

"Get back here!" cried Donald as he appeared moments later.

"Wait for me!" said Goofy, who was right behind the wizard.

They both ran past Sora without a second look.

Sora sighed, and chased after them, but stopped shortly.

"Wait, did he just call her 'princess'?!"

_Zidane Tribal_

"Wait hold up!" yelled Sora, and he, Donald and Goofy ran into the train station, just as the train began to pull away. The three of them jumped into the train, just as the door shut.

"We made it!" Sora said, from under Donald and Goofy.

"Wow, you guys real cut it close." They looked up to see a blonde boy sitting on the seat. There was nothing peculiar about him; with the exception of the long prehensile tail.

"You can say that again," Goofy said, standing up. "We almost didn't make it."

"Yeah, you really have to watch out sometime, otherwise these things will go off without you one," the tailed-boy said. He jumped from his seat and offered his hand to Sora. "My name's Zidane."

"Thanks," Sora said, grabbing Zidane's hand and pulled himself up. "I'm Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy." He then gestured to this friends.

"Nice to meet ya."

Ten minutes later, they were at the other side of Twilight Town, and stepped off the train.

"It's great talking to you," Zidane said, walking down the stairs.

"You too!" Goofy waved happily. "I liked that guy."

"Yeah, he was cool," Sora said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Uh-oh."

"What?"

"I don't feel any munny in my pocket."

"What!" Donald snapped. He then ran to the stairs and saw Zidane walking away, with their munny pouch in his tail. "He stole our munny!"

"What!?" Sora and Goofy yelled, and ran to the stair.

"Thief!" they yelled, causing Zidane to stop in his tracks. He then ran away. "Get him!" They ran down the stairs and began to chase after him.

000

The three of them ran into one of the larger rooms of the underground tunnels.

"Where did he go?" Donald asked.

"We saw him head into here, so he can't be to far," Goofy said.

"Just where'd he go?" Sora asked.

There was then several warping noises, and they were then surrounded by Nobodies. "Where did these things come from?"

The three summoned their weapons and fought. The battle lasted several minutes, but there appeared to be no end to the Nobodies.

"When are these things going to end?" Sora said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

A Nobody jumped into the air, poised for Sora, but before it could hit him, it was sliced in half.

"What-" Sora said, surprised by sudden event. "You!"

"You guys need help?" Zidane asked, twirling a short sword in each hand.

More Nobodies began to attack, and the four retaliated.

Sora flipped through the air, and struck and several before landing on the ground.

"Zidane!"

"Right here!" the tailed-boy cried, landing right next tot Sora.

They then began to quickly strike at the Nobodies, giving them little time to evade the attacks. After destroying several Nobodies, they landed next to each other, and raised their weapons into the air.

"Final wave!" Zidane cried, as a several columns of purple energy appeared around them, destroying the remaining Nobodies.

Several moments passed and no Nobodies appeared. They each put their weapons away when then were sure they were in the safe.

"Looks like we took care of them, huh?" Zidane asked.

"Yeah, we did. Why'd you help us?" Sora asked.

Zidane shrugged. "What? Do I need a reason to help someone?"

"No, I guess not."

It was then Donald jumped up, and smashed Zidane on the head, knocking him down. He then took back their munny pouch and stormed away.

"Ow!" Zidane moaned from his spot on the ground. He then sat up. "Well, better get going. Got some people to look for." He then walked down the opposite tunnel Donald took. "Oh! And if you see some guy in rusty armor, and a cute girl in orange, point them my way!" He was then gone.

"Guy in rusty armor, and cute girl in orange?" Goofy asked. "Didn't we see those guys earlier?"

"Yeah! We did!" He looked back down the tunnel, only to see Zidane no longer there. "He's gone. Maybe he can find them on his own."

Goofy nodded, and they went down the tunnel where Donald left.

000

Zidane walked along the train tracks that curved right through the middle of town.

He then stopped in his tracks and looked around and saw someone leaving the district. He then ran to follow the person.

He had to return to where he belonged.

Please review

Mrfipp


	3. VIII

Fipp: And now for another fandub that deserves recognition; The FFVIII dub by TearsofPurity!

**VIII**

_Selphie Tilmitt and Irvine Kinneas_

Selphie scratched her head.

Just where was she again? Okay, she had gone and passed that guy with the big hair, and turned left at that those kids in the funny hats with the big feathers.

What were the chances they were still standing where she had last seen them? After two hours? Or was it three?

And where were the trains?! Sora said there would be trains! Wait, no. That was Twilight Town. She grunted to herself. She liked trains. She even had a train song!

What was she originally thinking about again? Oh well.

"Hm, where to go?" she said to herself. "I was supposed to meet up with Tidus and Wakka some time ago, but she had forgotten about where she was supposed to meet them. Where was she supposed to meet them again? At some wizard's house? Yeah! That's where.

So, she began to walk around, hoping to find the wizard, only wind up right back where she started.

She hung her head. "I'm lost."

"Lost eh?"

She squeaked and jumped back. Standing behind her was a boy her age, wearing a dusty trench coat, and a cowboy hate.

"You scared me!" Selphie yelled back.

"Sorry," the boy said, waving his hands in the air. "Didn't mean to do that." He then shrugged. "Now, what's a cute thing like you doing lost in a city like this?"

"Oh! I was going to meet some friends of mine! But, I don't know where this wizard guy lives."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Wizard? You mean Merlin?"

"Yes!" Selphie pointed at him. "That's the guy! Do you know where he lives, um-?"

"Irvine," Irvine said.

"You know where Merlin lives Irvine?"

Irvine grinned. "Of course I do."

"Sweet!" Selphie started to pump her fist into the air. "Booyaka!"

"Huh? What's 'Booyaka'?"

"Oh, that's my own lingo. Everyone uses it back where I live." This was a lie; she was the only person who said it, even after she had spent three years of trying to spread it. Kairi said it sometimes, but she may have only been humoring her.

"Well then, let's get going," Irvine said, tipping his hat. "Let's get going."

"Booyaka!"

_Quistis Trepe, Zell Dincht and Leon/Squall Leonhart _

The trio walked through the ravine, on their way to Ansem's computer.

When they reached the postern they saw a man standing there, doing various punches and kicks into the air, attacking nothing. He wore a red vest, spiky blonde hair, but the most noticeable detail about him was the strange tattoo on the left side of his face.

He stopped in his exercises when he noticed them walk into the area.

"Yo!" he said. "Hey, are you those guys who were supposed to be showing up?"

"Why do you want to know?" Donald said.

"Oh, I was just sent out here to wait for you guys." He pointed to himself. "Name's Zell, I'm a friend of Squ-I mean, Leon."

"You're a friend of Leon?" Goofy asked.

"If you know Leon, then how come we've never heard about you before?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, he the real talkative type that guy," Zell mumbled. "Well, anyways, he sent me up here to meet you guys,"

"Why wouldn't he meet us himself?" Sora asked. "Is something wrong with him?"

"Nay, he's fine. He's just been a little distracted lately."

"What's been distracting him?"

"There's nothing distracting me." The four of them turned around to see Leon, followed by a blonde woman wearing glasses, walking down the path from the tower.

"Leon!" Sora called.

The woman chuckled. "I still have trouble getting used to that."

"Hi there guy!" Goofy said, waving to the two. "Who's this lady?"

"Me? My name is Quistis. You must be Sora, Donald and Goofy. Leon's told me a lot about you three."

Sora nodded before turning back to Leon. "So, what did you call us over for?"

Leon put his hands in his pocket. "Go down to Tron, he'll fill you in. I have some other things to keep care of. I'll be a while, so don't-"

"Don't come looking for me," Quistis finished his sentence off with a smirk.

Leon gave an annoyed sigh. _'Then again, I wouldn't expect anything less.' _He then began to walk away.

"Where's he going?" Sora asked.

Quistis shook his head. "Something certainly is on Squall's mind."

"Squall?" Donald asked. "Who's Squall?"

Sora wondered this too, but he remembered what Yuffie called Leon when he first met them.

_Rinoa Heartilly_

Leon walked down the paths. He reached the fork in the road; leading to either back to town, or into the wilds. He took the latter.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

'_Dear Squall,'_

'_Been a while since anyone called me that.'_

'_Been a while, hasn't it? Guess it has, huh?_

'_I've missed you, and I've been trying to find a way home since those things attacked our world. It's been difficult, but I've found a way back._

'_You remember where you made that promise?_

'_Love, Rinoa._

'_P.S. Angelo says hi!'_

Leon walked for about an hour, until he had reached a large field. Once upon a time, it was covered in flowers.

He looked around before several hours. He had been coming here every day since he had received the mail through the Moget system, and would come every day until . . .

He stood up, ready to go home, and try again tomorrow when the wind picked up. His eyes caught a white sliver floating through the air, and he reached out and picked it out of the air.

It was a feather.

Leon turned around. Not far off, he could see a young, black-haired woman dressed in blue, accompanied by a dog, coming his way.

Squall gave a rare smile.

Please review

Mrfipp


	4. VII

Fipp: I have decided to add chapter for XI, XII, and XIII, but I need help with XI, since the FF Wikia does not give me much information on characters' personalities in that area.

So, could someone please PM information on a Hume, Mirtha and Galka that I could use in that chapter, as well as Prishe. Wild guess which Tarutaru I'll use.

Also, Birth by Sleep is now out! I've seen clips on YouTube, and read stuff on the KH Wiki, and I am both saddened, and excited about for it to come out in the USA! It kind of makes me want to write something regarding Tanith (from my mainstream stories) and . . .

On with the fic!

**VII**

_Cid Highwind and Yuffie Kisaragi_

Sora, Donald and Goofy had walked into Merlin's house to find something out of the ordinary.

"Hey guys!" Yuffie smiled as she greeted. "Want to join us?" She held up the cup.

She, Cid and Merlin were sitting at a table, with various cups from Merlin's magic bag floating around them.

"What are you guys doing?" Donald asked.

"We are sitting down to a nice cup of tea," Merlin said as one of the floating pots refilled his cup. "Let me prepare you some cups." The pots began to coordinate with three cups in midair. He was drinking Earl Grey.

"Tea?" Goofy scratched his head.

"Yeah," Cid mumbled. "Apparently, _some people_," he glared at Merlin, "think that I need to relax more." He slurped his beverage. "Though, I have to say that I do feel good." He managed to convince Merlin to let him have iced.

"It's delicious," Yuffie chirped. Green tea for her.

Sora nodded. "Well, that's nice to know. But he have to get going, we were looking for-"

Cid stood up and slammed his hands on the table. "SIT DOWN AND DRINK YER GODDAMN TEA!!!"

"Yes sir," the three said, now sitting down at the table.

_Barret Wallace_

Sora groaned as he paid for the much needed items (potions, ethers, elixirs and such), and pocketed the items.

"This is just getting ridicules," he sighed to himself.

"How much did they cost this time?" Donald asked, dreading the answer.

Sora told him.

"WHAT?!" the mage quaked. "Why is everything getting so expensive! That's it! We're cutting what we spend on luxuries!"

"But Donald," Goofy answered. "We're already not eating lunch and dinner,"

"And I'm uncomfortable with sharing a bed at the inn with you two," Sora said, crossing his arms.

"What?" Donald shrugged. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and three rooms are too expensive." He began to mumble some. "Just why is the price of everything going up?"

"That's 'cause we're running out of fuel," a gruff voice said. The three of them turned around to see a dark-skinned man in an off-white vest and fishnet shirt walking towards him. What caught their attention the most, was the fact that his right hand was made of metal.

"What do you mean 'we're running out of fuel'?" Sora asked.

The large man pointed with his metal thumb over his shoulder. "This world is still a wreck, and people are freaking out over running out of the resources that weren't ruined by the Heartless. So, everyone's jacking their prices up, as a sort of compensation for what they have to pay for fuel to transport their goods."

"That doesn't sound very good," Sora said.

"Nope, it ain't," the man replied. "But hopefully, if things go my way, than the situation will get better."

"You have an idea?"

"Yup! I'm looking for new resources out there, in the wastelands, where the Heartless wouldn't likely touch." He paused for a moment. "Now that I think about it, I should probably be leaving soon." He turned around and began to walk away. "First, I gotta say bye to someone."

The man soon vanished into the crowd.

_Red XIII/Nanaki_

The moonlit sky shone down on the three of them as they walked along the walls of the former-castle.

Sora yawned. "Why do we have to be here so late?"

"Leon said there were some equipment that Ansem was using a long time ago still around the castle," Donald answered.

"But Donald!" Goofy whined. "We're been looking all day!"

"Well he have to-" Just then a tile from one of the overhanging roof fell down, and knocked him on the head. He cried in pain as he clutched his head.

"What was that?" Sora and Goofy looked up to the roof and saw quick-moving figure on the roofs, running away from them.

"Hey! Get back here!" Sora and Goofy then began to chase after the figure, with Donald, now fueled by rage, chasing closely behind them, only to pass them mere seconds later.

000

The three of them cornered the figure atop one of the towers. This close they could see that the one sneaking around was a large red, wolf-like creature with a fire lit at the end of its tail.

The three of them readied their weapons, poised to strike should this thing attack.

"Why do you have you weapons out?" the wolf asked.

"Wait," Sora blinked in confusion. "You can talk?"

"Yes, yes I can," it said.

"What are you doing sneaking around this late at night!" Donald asked/yelled, pointing his staff at him. He was apparently still mad about the bump on his head.

"I could ask you the same thing." Donald was now getting agitated.

The wolf made a slight growl noise. "I am here, for I do not know where I belong."

"You don't know where to go?" Goofy asked.

"That is correct."

"How about home?" Sora suggested.

The wolf shook his head. "Long ago, this world was my home, but the Heartless ruined it. They ruined it for many people."

"But why are you up here, in the towers?"

"As I said, I do not know where I belong." he was silent for a moment. "Tell me, when you first saw me, what did you think of me?"

The three of them didn't know how to answer.

"You thought I was a beast, am I wrong? Do not be ashamed if that is what you thought, many people think that upon seeing me. I may appear as a beast, yet my mind in on par with that of man. The men view me as a beast, and the beast view me as a man. I cannot return to my own people, for the Heartless took them all. So, where do I belong?"

"That sounds hard," Sora said, lowering his head.

"Why don't you just go to town?" Goofy asked. "There's lots of people there! And I don't think they'll care if you look like a wolf. Or are you a lion?" Goofy said the last bit to himself in confusion.

The wolf looked over the wall, and down to the incomplete city.

"Perhaps, you are right." He then jumped over the wall, and climbed down the various roofs until he had reached the bottom.

_Aerith Gainsborough and Tifa Lockhart_

Sora propped his hands on the stone railing near the markets and looked on towards the city. He was simply amazed as to how fast the city was being rebuilt. They were even adding several buildings that were not there in the first place.

Sora began to turn away when he saw someone walking towards the exit.

"Hey!" he called, gaining the person's attention.

"Oh, hello Sora, Donald, Goofy," Tifa said, seeing the three run up to her. "Haven't seen you three in a while."

"Yeah, it's been a while hasn't it," Sora said. He took notice of the paper bag in her hand. "Hey, what's that?"

"This?" She held up the bag. "Nothing really," she reached into the bag and pulled out several small paper packets.

"Seeds?" Donald asked, looking at the items.

"Flower seeds," Goofy finished.

Tifa nodded. "Aerith asked me to pick them up for her while she did some work."

"What kind of work?" Sora asked.

"Well, follow me and find out," Tifa said as she walked down the stairs. The three of them followed her.

000

They followed Tifa much further than they thought they would, towards the edge of they city where some of the older buildings that hadn't been touched by Maleficent stood.

Tifa led them to the outside of a large, rundown church.

"This place is a dump." Tifa glared at Donald, who shrunk back behind Goofy. They than walked through the doors to find Aerith, kneeling in front of a hole in the floor boards where the podium once stood.

"We're back!" Tifa called up. Aerith turned her head towards the small group and smiled. She then stood up and walked towards them.

"Thank you Tifa," she said, taking the bag from Tifa and walking back towards the hole.

"What exactly is this place?" Sora asked.

"This was an old church back before the Heartless invasion," Tifa explained. "It was a favorite place for Aerith to be, and when Leon and the others came back to rebuild this world, she found that it was still standing." She looked forward to see Aerith open up the seed packets and begin planting them. "There used to be a flowerbed there but they died while we were gone." She turned back to Sora. "I'm helping her trying to make this place like it once was."

She then looked up towards the large hole in the roof and chuckled to herself, before going to help her.

_Cait Sith_

Sora, Donald and Goofy walked into Merlin's house, in order to speak with Leon, but found him talking with a man dressed in blue, and sporting a goatee.

Leon noticed them walk in. "I was just talking about you three."

"You were?" Sora asked.

"Ah, so this is the Sora, Donald and Goofy I've been told about?" the other man said, before shaking their hands. "I have heard many things about you. All of which are good."

"Um, thanks," Sora said, slightly unsure.

"Oh, sorry, I know your names, yet you don't know mine." He pointed to himself. "Reeve Tuesti, and I have been sent here by His Majesty, King Mickey, to assist in the Radiant Garden's reconstruction."

"King Mickey sent you?" Goofy asked.

"Yes, shortly after his return as a matter of fact." He walked towards the computer screens. "I have numerous plans to speed up construction."

The screens began to flash red.

"Looks like they're Heartless in the south district," Leon said, looking over the screen. "The Claymores can handle it for now, but someone better get over there."

"Don't worry, we'll keep care of it," Sora said. The three of them were about to walk out the door when Reeve called for them.

"Wait!" He reached behind his back. "It's dangerous to go alone," he pulled out a cat wearing a crown, "take this."

Before Sora could question him, the cat popped to life and jumped in front of Sora.

"Aye! How are ya! My name is Cait Sith, and it will be a pleasure workin' with ya!" The small cat then walked towards the front door. "Best we be getting out there, and fast. Just need to get me moogle."

"Moogle?" Sora asked.

"You'll see," Reeve said, leaving the three to ponder.

_Vincent Valentine_

The three of them pushed aside the wooden girder.

"Just how much more debris is there?" Donald asked.

"I don't know," Sora said. "But Leon said there could be a lot of useful material down here."

"Like a coffin?" Goofy asked.

"How's a coffin useful?"

"I don't know, but there's one right there." Goofy pointed to a simple wooden coffin leaning against the wall.

. . .

The three screamed and huddled into the corner of the room. They stayed there for several moments, thinking it was safe to move, when the coffin slightly jumped.

This only made them more scared.

"W-w-w-w-what do you guys think are is in there?" Goofy said in terror.

"Zombie?" Donald said.

"Vampire?" Sora said.

"Zombie vampire?" Goofy said.

"What if someone's trapped in there?" Sora asked.

"NO!" Donald said. "We're not opening it! Not at least without protection."

Ten minutes later, the three of them were armed head to toe in armor made from various scrap metals found around them. Mostly pots and pans. They had also tapped Sora's Keyblade to a long stick, so they could unlock the coffin while still remain the in safety of the corner.

They tapped the Keyblade against the lock, having it pop open. The lid then opened up.

"VAMPIRE!!!" The three heroes screamed like little girls.

"Please be quiet," the vampire grumbled. He then sat up in the coffin and stared at the three cowards with tired eyes. "Just who are you?"

"Please don't eat us," Sora pleaded.

"I'm not a vampire," the vampire said.

"Then why are you in a coffin?"

"I chose to lock myself away, and you've interrupted by slumber."

"You've been sleeping in that thing? But no one's been down here in ten years!"

"Ten years?" The vampire looked down. "It's only been ten years?"

"What? Sounds like you wanted to sleep for more than ten years."

"I did."

"What?"

The vampire didn't answer, he only grabbed the lid of his coffin and slammed it shut.

"Hey! Wait!" Sora ran forward and grabbed the coffin's lid and pried it open. The vampire appeared very agitated. "There's no reason to spend the rest of your life in a coffin."

The vampire glared at him.

"Come on, there's has to be something you want to do."

". . ." He appeared to be thinking. "Ten years?"

"Yeah."

The vampire stood up, pushing Sora aside and began to walk away.

"Hey! Wait up!" Sora called, but the man had already left the room. "What a weird guy,"

000

Leaving the chamber, the man reached into his billowing red cloak and pulled out a three-barreled pistol.

If only ten years have passed, maybe the person who he wanted to empty the gun on was still alive.

_Cloud Strife_

The cliff overlooked the city, but the view is not what he came for. He reached down and pulled the old, rusted sword out of the ground before shouldering it.

He walked back to the large black motorcycle, the Fenrir, and strapped it to the back, before getting on himself, and driving off.

000

"_Don't worry! I'm going to save the world!"_

"_How?"_

_The older man's shoulder dropped. "I haven't thought that through really."_

_Cloud chuckled._

"_But, I'm going to have to try something. That world is our home, and I'll do what I can to get it back, so I can become a hero, just like these three people I once knew."_

"_Who?"_

"_These two guys I knew, as well as a pretty guy. I met them at the Olympus Coliseum. I tried to get acknowledged their once, but that stupid goat . . ." The rest was lost under inaudible mumbles._

_000_

"_What?"_

"_I want to go with you. I want to make something of myself."_

"_Why? Hey, is there a little lady friend you want to notice you?"_

_Cloud turned away._

_The man laughed. "That's okay, all heroes have their own ladies to go after." He wrapped his arm around Cloud's head and began to give him a noogie. "That's okay, you can come."_

_000_

"_So, those were Heartless?" Cloud asked, lowering the machine gun the older man had given him_

"_Think so, they kind of remind me of," his voice trailed off as he placed his sword on the holster on his back. Not a moment later, he grabbed for it again. "Get down!"_

_Everything went dark for him._

_000_

_He didn't know how long he was unconscious, but went he woke up, everything around him was green, and distorted, as though he was seeing it through water. It took him a moment to realize that it was water, and he was in a giant tank._

_He tried to struggle, but his body seemed to be drained of all its energy._

"_The subjects seem to react differently," he heard a voice, though garbled though the water. He struggled to look up to see someone, wearing a white lab coat, standing outside the tank. "An old collogue of mine once spoke of the darkness in people's hearts, and since then I too have gained interest in such matters, and have begun to conduct my own experiments."_

_Cloud thought that he must be recording this narration._

"_The Heartless I used to acquire them are the darkness in a person's heart when the body is destroyed. I plan on extracting this darkness, as well as the light, while the body remains."_

_Cloud then fell unconscious._

_000_

"_. . .and Subject II have each reacted differently. While Subject I, has proven successful, the entities extracted are degenerating. This has driven me to use different means with Subject II. I shall start off with . . ."_

_000_

_There was the sound of a dull shattering, and water pouring out of something. He felt arms grab him._

"_Don't worry Cloud, we'll get out of here._

_000_

_Everything about his body felt so hazy, and heavy, and tired. From what he could gather, the man had rescued him, and they escaped from wherever they were being kept. _

_He wished he could help, but his body couldn't move._

_000_

_Just, what was happening? He was now propped against the wall, while the man seemed to have his sword drawn, pointing it against another man. He couldn't see his details clearly, but there appeared to be something white sticking out from his back._

"_Do you know what an angel dreams about?"  
_

"_No. Tell me."  
_

"_Angels dream, about being human."_

_000_

_Cloud felt some sense return to his body. He looked up at the man, holding a sword._

_Wait. That's a different sword, a large sword. Where did he get it._

_The man lifted the sword and pressed it against his forehead. _

"_Live for your dreams," he said aloud, "and protect your honor."_

_000_

"_. . .and thus was the Gift from the Goddess."_

_From his spot in the corner, Cloud could see a red man holding something. He was standing on a ledge. The man was standing below him._

"_You're very longwinded, aren't you."_

_The thing in the red man's flashed, and was replaced with a long object._

_000_

"_You'll be safe here!" the man said, hiding Cloud behind a large rock. The man turned around to face the massive horde of Heartless behind him. "Hey, don't worry, I'll be back."_

_He turned around and walked away. Cloud reached after him, but his hand just wouldn't reach._

_000_

_The ground was wet and muddy when he came too. It was raining._

_He could not feel his body, so he crawled to the man. He saw that there wasn't a single Heartless left. He saw the man lying down on the ground, and began to crawl._

_He reached the man, and horror crept over him._

_There were large bloody gashes marking his body, and many burns from various spells the Heartless cast. The Heartless failed to take his heart, but at the cost of his life._

_The man coughed up blood. "Hey, Cloud," he said. "Looks like, things didn't turn out to well."_

_Cloud tried to speak, but couldn't._

"_Looks like I couldn't save the world, huh? I couldn't become a hero?"_

_The clouds began to clear._

_The man reached to his side and pulled over the large sword, before weakly handing it to Cloud._

"_Sorry, but, seems you're going to have to do enough living, for both of us." He tried to laugh, but failed. He turned his eyes to the sky as several rays of light pierced the clouds. "How could someone be afraid of something so beautiful."_

_. . ._

_Cloud reached down and touched the man._

_He was dead._

_000_

_He walked for who knows how long, dragging the sword. _

_Everything from the last week began to build. The capture, these 'experiments' that were preformed on them, his helplessness. The death._

_A sudden uneasiness built in his stomach. He collapsed as the pain flooded his body. His mind went blank._

_When he came too, he saw a black boot near his face. He looked up to see a man._

"_It's good to meet you, Cloud."_

_000_

Cloud pulled over and dismounted Fenrir. He took the sword off the bike and looked at the building.

He walked through the old doors and saw that the building was empty, save what lay at the end of the aisle. They certainly had done a good job at repairing this place, haven't they?

Cloud took the weapon and stuck it into the flowerbed and looked at it for a moment.

. . .

"You were wrong," he said. "You did become a hero, Zack."

Please review

Mrfipp


	5. VI

Fipp: I liked working on this chapter.

Also, I'm going to issue a challenge to anyone to create a story based on the last character introductions.

**VI**

_Setzer Gabbiani_

"I have to admit, I was impressed with you today."

"Huh?" Sora, who was getting out of his Struggle gear, turned around to see the last man he fought. "Oh, thank you, um,"

"Setzer," the man said, flipping his hair.

"Yeah, Setzer, you played well too."

"Though, it would appear that I still need to improve in that area of skill, especially since the number of times I've played this game can be counted on one hand," he sighed.

Sora raised an eyebrow. "If you haven't really played, then why-?"

"I saw a challenge, and I took it. Simple as that." He crossed his arms and gave a smug grin. "When a challenge presents itself, I put all my chips into the pile, and gamble on whether or not the cards I hold is a winning hand.

"Is that so?" Sora was now feeling a little uneasy around him; He was talking just like that Nobody who high jacked the Black Pearl.

"Yes," Setzer turned around, his coat swishing around him. "What is life, if we don't take a chance every one and a while?"

He then left.

_Locke Cole_

The three of them walked through the populated streets of Radiant Garden.

They heard a yell of frustration. "Not again!" The three of them turned around to see Yuffie frantically looking around the streets.

"Yuffie?" Sora asked as he, Donald and Goofy, approached the ninja.

"Hey guys can't not right now," she said quickly. "I'm looking for someone."

"Really? Who?"

"This guy who keeps stealing from me whenever I go shopping!"

". . ." The three were silent for a moment, before they burst out laughing.

"It's not funny!"

"Sorry Yuffie," Sora struggled to say, wiping a tear from his eye. "But, but-"

"Don't you think it's kinda ironic?" Goofy said. "Aren't you a thief? And some other thief stole from you!"

"I'm not a thief!" yelled a voice from the crowds. The four of them turned around to see a man wearing a bandana. "I'm a treasure hunter!"

"You!" Yuffie pointed. "You stole from me!"

"You stole from me first," the man simply said. "You stole the magicite I was holding."

"But you stole my materia!"

"So they stole from each other?" Donald asked.

"Like they say; Two wrongs don't make a right."

"But three lefts do," Sora said. "Hey, guys!" he called, getting the attention of the two. "Since you each stole magic stones from each other, how about you call it even."

The two of them gave Sora a sour look, before utterly dismissing him, and turning back to each other and continue their argument.

The three of them shook their heads and walked away, leaving them to them to their futile and petty squabble.

_Cyan Garamonde_

"What can we do?" Donald asked himself, looking over the bulletin board. They were low on cash, and needed something that would give them a boost in their savings.

Clean dumpsters?

Move large and heavy objects up a steeps hill?

Exterminate dangerous roaches and rats out of a smelly and dark basement.

None of these jobs looked too appealing.

There was then a frustrated growl behind them. They looked around to see an older man dressed in regal blue clothes. He appeared to be staring intensely at a vending machine.

"Hmm," he said to himself, before poking the at the glass that stood between him and the salty and/or sugary treats several times. "Grr, such a confound device!"

"Hey!" Sora called out. "You okay?"

The man turned to Sora. "Sadly for myself, this contraption has utterly baffled thy. Please, do thou knows how to work such a thing?"

Sora raised an eyebrow. Thou? Who talked like that anymore?

"Yeah, first you put the munny in the slot, and pressed the buttons for what you want," Sora explained. How could someone not know how to work a simple vending machine.

The man nodded, before hesitantly turning back to the machine. He bit his lip as he slid the coins into the coin slot, and pressing the correct buttons that corresponded to the snack he wanted.

He smiled in satisfaction as the chips dropped. "I thank you youth, for without thy guidance, I would certainly be lost." He bowed to them, before walking away, happily munching on his chips.

_Mog and Umaro_

The three of them walked through the Garden's streets.

There was then a loud roar, startling the them.

"What was that?" Donald said, looking around.

Another roar. They looked up just in time to see a large, white and hairy figure drop from one of the higher walls, land directly in front of them.

"Is that a yeti?" Sora asked.

The yeti roared, before it charged forward.

000

The four of them fought for some time, and while the yeti proved to be unmatched physically, it had a large weakness against fire-based magic.

It lowered itself to the ground, ready to launch itself at them, when two words rang though the air.

"Stop, kupo!"

The yeti did and looked to the left. Sora, Donald and Goofy did this as well.

Walking up to them, hands placed on his hips, was a moogle.

"There you are Umaro!" the moogle said. "I've been looking everywhere for you, kupo!"

The yeti lowered itself. "Sorry boss," it said apologetically.

The moogle walked up to the yeti and shook his head. "You're lucky that the king allowed me to bring you with me on my vacation, otherwise you couldn't function without me, kupo!" (1) The moogle shook his head. "C'mon! Let's go!" He then walked away.

"Right boss!" the yeti said, following the moogle.

The two of them walked away, the moogle shaking his head. "Such a bad day this had been, from you running off, to that kid kicking that moogle around, kupo."

The three of them stood there, dumbfounded, by how something so large could be bossed around by something so small.

_Edgar Roni Figaro and Sabin Rene Figaro_

"Wow, a lot of people have come out for the struggle match, huh?" Sora asked, looking at all the people that had gathered for the game.

"I wonder how many people are here?" Goofy asked, looking around.

"I would say at least the whole town."

"Really?" Donald said, before realizing that the voice belonged to neither Sora nor Goofy. They looked behind them to see muscular man with short, spiked hair.

"Yup," the man said, folding his arms over his chest. "I think its because of the special guest host."

"There's a special guest host?" Sora asked.

"Oh yeah! I heard about that!" Donald said. "I think one of the richest landowners in town." He thought for a moment. "What was his name?"

"Man," Sora pouted to himself. "I wish I was able to register in time."

"And now ladies and gentleman!" the mayor called out to the cheering audience. "Now, for out special guest host; Edgar Roni Figaro!"

Just then, a man with a long blue coat, and long blonde braid walked into the area.

"My fellow citizens of Twilight Town," Edgar said. "It is an honor to be here today, I certainly hope that the matches we see today are something for the book. Now, let the matches begin!" He winked, causing several of the younger women in the crowd to blush and giggle.

The man behind them shook his head. "He's always been a showboat."

"You know him," Sora asked them man gave a knowing grin.

"Yeah, I kind of know him,"

_Strago Magus and Relm Arrowny _

Leon (or Squall, since Sora really didn't know what to call him since that blue-dressed woman showed up), looked through the papers.

"These are some really good ideas," he said.

"What?" Sora said, trying to look over his shoulders. "More reconstruction plans? I thought you guys had that all covered."

"True, he have the city mostly dealt with, but the community itself is still shaky." He flipped the papers, read them over, before looking at the old man across from him. "You certainly have a lot of experience, Mr. Magus."

"Please kid," the man smiled. "Just call me Strago."

"Okay Strago," Squall said. "Seems like you were once a member of one of the Garden's original committees,"

"That I was."

"Really?" Sora asked. "Wow, then you must know what this place was like all those years ago?"

Strago nodded. "That's right."

"Then why try to get on the new committee? If you've already been on one?"

"Well, I want to make this city on how it was, so my granddaughter, who was merely an infant when she was last here, can experience this city as it truly was."

Squall raised an eyebrow. "You have an granddaughter?"

"Yes, I do. She's a wonderful little girl named-"

The door then slammed open, and a small blonde girl wearing a floppy beret walked in.

"There you are Grandpa!" the girl called, addressing Strago.

"Relm?" Strago asked. "What are you doing here?"

Relm huffed and put her hands on her hips. "I've been looking for you all day! You said were going to show me around the city."

Strago blinked. "I did?"

"You forgot, didn't you?" Relm said flatly.

"Well, um," Strago tried to think up of a good excuse.

"That's it," Relm said, turning around and walking out the door. "I'm going to have to make you a portrait."

Strago paled. "What!? No!" He jumped up from his seat and chased after the girl.

A moment later, he poked his head back in. "So, I'll see you guys later." He left again.

"Why's he scared of a picture?" Sora asked.

Squall didn't answer; only looked down at the papers.

_Gau_

"Is it here?!" Sora called out, pushing the bush aside. His face fell when he didn't see what he was looking for. "Did you guys find it yet?" Sora asked Donald and Goofy, who were looking under a rock, and inside a woodpecker nest respectively.

"Sorry," Goofy said.

"Sor-WAK!" The woodpecker attack Donald.

Sora cast his head down in disappointment.

The three of them had been on their way from the Twilight Town Mansion, when they had been attacked by an ambush of Nobodies. While they were quickly done away with, Sora noticed that the crown necklace that he had always worn was gone, having been lost in the fight.

He was about to give up, having lost all hope on finding his precious jewelry, when a small shine caught his eye. He turned around to see the necklace hanging off a low hanging tree branch.

Sora broke out in a grin as he ran after it. He was just about to grab it when a hand reached down from the braches above, and snatched it away just as he was about to close his grasp on it.

The Keyblade wielder was stunned for several seconds before he reacted.

"HEY!" he yelled up the tree. "GIVE ME THAT BACK! THAT'S MINE!" Hearing this uncharacteristic outburst, Donald and Goofy looked up from their searches.

"No!" a voice answered back from above. "My shiny now!" it called.

"Why you," Sora said through grit teeth. He then jumped up, and climbed up the trunk, and vanishing into the foliage above, which shook with the conflict that was happening within.

"You think he's okay?" Goofy asked.

"I really don't know," Donald said.

. . .

"Ten munny Sora wins," Goofy said.

"You're on!"

So as the two settled their bets, their was a large 'thunk' noise, and Sora fell down and hit the ground hard. There was a large bump on his head.

"You okay Sora?" Goofy asked, while Donald cried in the background about his loss.

"Never been better," Sora dazedly said, holding his thumb up, only for it to fall back down.

"HAHA!" laughed the voice from above. From the trees then dropped a young boy with a green mullet, dressed in animal skins. "Shiny mine! Shiny mine!" the boy cried, waving the pendent around in victory. He then blew a raspberry at the three of them before fleeing into the forest.

"Get back here!" Sora yelled, jumping back up and chasing after the wild child. Donald and Goofy were worried that he had not recovered fully from the first round.

Their fears were confirmed when Sora ran into a tree.

_Shadow_

The bar was open. They couldn't eat at the RGRC HQ because Aerith though that soda with milk added to it was a good idea. (2)

"Not it!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy called out, poking their noses.

"DAMMIT!" Cid cursed. Now he had to buy.

The four of them sat picked a table to sit at, but sadly, it only had three chairs at it.

"I'll get myself one," Donald grumbled, having not sat down fast enough to claim a chair for himself. He looked around the tavern, and saw an extra chair at the bar. Whistling, he walked up to the chair and pulled it away, only to stop when he heard a growl.

He froze in his tracks, shaking, and slowly turned around to see a large, black, wolf-like dog.

"Uh, hi doggy," Donald said sweating nervously. He reached out to pet the dog, in an attempt for it to act nicely towards him, but-

"I'd be careful," Donald halted his hand. He looked up to see the black-dressed man sitting on the closest stool say. "The dog eats strangers."

"_Eats?" _Donald squeaked. He looked down at the dog, and pulled his hand away, just as it snapped its jaws at him. Donald screamed and fell back, then looked at his hand.

It wasn't. His heart was about to explode out of his chest if it didn't pop back out from its hiding place within his sleeve.

Donald grabbed his stool and ran back to the table.

"You okay Donald?" Goofy asked, seeing the nervous wreck his friend was.

"Who is that guy?" Sora looked over Donald's shoulder to see the ninja-like man drop a piece of jerky on the floor, which the dog swallowed whole.

"I think you better avoid that guy," Cid said, chewing on the toothpick. "That's Shadow, and the dog's called Interceptor."

"Why would we avoid them."

Cid gestured for them to lean over, which they did. "I heard he'd slit his own ma's throat for a nickel. Heard he'd done it too."

This made the three of them grow very pale. Expect Donald, who from his previous encounter with Shadow, just fainted.

_Gogo_

The three yelled as they landed in the water.

Donald was the first to surface. "STUPID WHALE!" he cursed to Monstro, for swallowing them for the umpteenth time, as Sora and Goofy surfaced.

"We'd better get out of here again," Sora said as he swan to where the ship once was. Once they climbed onto the innards and began to walk to where the blowhole was located.

They entered the chamber, and observed the many platforms sticking out of the walls. They were about to begin their climb up, when something landed in front of them.

"Hello there," the figure said. It was covered from head to toe in many mismatched clothes, giving no hint to whether or not it was a man or woman.

The sudden appearance caused them to stumble back.

"Who are you?" Sora asked, once he calmed down. "And how did you get in here?"

"Gogo," it said. This must have been its name. "As for why I'm here," Gogo looked around. "I was playing a game with some guys, before I threw myself into a portal. Next thing I know, I ended up in the middle of space, and was swallowed up by a whale!" Sora was a little put off by Gogo's gender neutral voice. (3)

"So you're stuck then?" Sora crossed his arms over his chest.

"Correct." Gogo crossed his arms over his chest.

"Do ya need any help getting out?" Goofy scratched his head.

"I'd like that very much." Gogo scratched her head.

"No way!" Donald thrust his arm out and pointed his finger at Gogo. "We're not taking some stranger with us!"`

"Why you!" Gogo thrust his arm out and pointed her finger at Donald. "That is very rude! I just want to get out!"

"Stop copying us!"

"I'm a Mimic! It's my job!"

"Mimic?" Sora asked, confused.

"Correct. If you help me out, I will gladly help you out."

The three looked at each other, and agreed.

Though, the Mimic magic he taught Sora really didn't kick in for about a year. (4)

_Celes Chere_

The world was horrid looking. The massive pipes poured much black smoke into the hazy atmosphere that hung over the industrial city that spanned for miles.

In the center of the city, there stood a large palace, and in one of the halls, and woman walked, with two guards standing on either side of her. They were each dressed in military-like uniforms, but if a person looked onward, they could tell that something was off.

The two men lead her to a large door, and opened it up, before shoving her in. She stumbled for a foot, before managing to gracefully regain her composure and standing up straight.

"We've brought Ex-General Chere, sir," one of the armed men barked.

This was heard by the man standing at the other end of the room, looking out a window to the city. He waved his hand. "Very well, Biggs, Wedge, you can go now."

Biggs and Wedge nodded, before turning around, and slamming the door behind them.

It was silent between the man and woman for a moment.

"You've royally screwed up, huh?" the man asked, turning around, hoping to get a reaction out of the woman.

He got nothing.

He began to walk forward towards the woman. "I mean, with that big of a mistake can take you right to the gallows, where," he chuckled, "you know." He slid his finger over his throat, making a cutting noise. "You die."

The woman said nothing.

"Such a shame," the man said, now sulking. "You were such a fun general. Remember when you burned down that town?" He draped his arm over her shoulder. "Now was great! It really hurts me to see someone who is as good at your job as you die." He pulled away and began to walk away. "Too bad there's nothing you can to get a pardon for your crimes-wait!" He snapped his fingers. "There is!"

The woman looked up.

"You want to know don't you?" the man sang.

"Yes sir," she said, speaking up for the first time. "I would like a chance to atone my treason."

"Good, 'cause the only chance you're getting," the man said harshly, before putting a smile back on. "You see, I've recently lost my favorite toy."

Her eyes widened. "You mean-"

"BINGO!" He pointed both fingers at her. "You get her back, and we can put this whole nasty business behind us and be good old chums again!" He bounced back to his window. "We have a deal?"

"Yes sir," she said.

"Good, now go speak to the old man, he knows where she went."

The woman nodded, and left the room.

Despite the fact he was alone, the man still spoke.

"I really hope you bring her back soon, otherwise, I can't carry out my plans.

"What are my plans you say?

"Why it's simple:

"DESTROY EVERYTHING!"

The man, who was dressed like a mad clown, laughed loud enough for the whole city to hear him.

_Terra Branford_

It was nighttime in the Garden. Sora, Donald and Goofy sat on the roof of Merlin's house, admiring the stars.

"Sure are a lot of them," Sora nostalgically said.

"Sure are," Donald replied.

"Hey look!" Goofy pointed into the air. "It's a shooting star!" They could see the white streaking across the sky. "Let's make a wish!"

Sora and Donald nodded, and the three of them began to wish. When their wishes were made, the looked up to still see the star in the sky, and that it was flying downwards very fast. It vanished behind the castle walls, and was replaced with a loud bang, and a shake of the earth.

The startled the three of them.

"It crashed!" Sora said, not believing what happened. Did this mean their wishes were voided?

"I think we better go check it out!" Donald said. The other two nodded and they left to find the star.

000

The crash site wasn't too far from the city, located in the Great Maw, but it wasn't a star.

"What is it?" Goofy asked, poking at it with his shield.

"I don't know," Donald said. "It looked like some sort of robot maybe?"

The 'star' they had seen was in fact a large twisted heap of metal.

"I think we should go get Squall and the others," Sora said. The other two nodded. They were about to turn around and leave when they heard a scrapping noise.

A large panel fell from the object, and a young woman tumbled out.

They ran over to her, and pulled her away from the object, and rolled her onto her back.

"Hey! Are you okay!" Sora said, trying to wake her up.

"Who is she?" Donald asked.

"An alien?" Goofy said.

"Lady?" Sora said, pushing some of the blonde hair out of her face. Her eyes then opened, and Sora gave a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness you're alright, we were-"

Sora did not get a chance to finish this sentence, as he, then Donald and Goofy, were blasted with Thunder spells, sending them back and crashing to the ground.

"What gives?" Donald squawked, just as the woman was standing up.

"What did you do that for?" Sora said, getting to his feet.

She did not respond to his question; she only looked at him with a blank expression.

"Destroy. Burn," she said these in a monotone voice. A powerful magical energy grew around her as she grew the sword that was at her waist. "Kill."

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Goofy said, waving his hands in front of his face.

She did not listen to them, she only rushed forward.

000

They fought. It was a difficult fight. The woman was not only highly skilled with magic, giving even Donald a run for his munny, but her prowess with the sword almost totally overwhelmed Sora and Goofy.

"What's with her?" Sora panted the question out. "It's like she can't be hurt."

She was hurt, but the numerous injuries they had inflicted upon her didn't seem to bother her in the slightness.

"We have to think of something," Goofy said.

The woman then pointed her palm at them, and a large glowing ball of light appeared in it. It fired forward with so much speed they couldn't have countered fast enough.

A lot happened than;

There was the loud roar of an engine, which stopped as fast as it came.

Someone then landed between them and the blast of light, and slammed something down, causing a beam of light to shoot forward, and cancel out the girl's attack.

Sora opened his eyes, having closed them to prepare for his doom, and looked up.

"Cloud!"

The blonde man said nothing as he picked his sword back up, and held it into a defensive position. He stared intently at the woman before saying anything.

"Cover me." He was off.

With only a second to spar, Sora, Donald and Goofy ran after Cloud as he charged her.

She fired a fire spell at him, but Goofy jumped in front of him and blocked it. She cast a blizzard spell, but Donald cast an aero around Cloud, dispersing it. She was about to cast a much more powerful spell, one that wouldn't be so easily blocked, when Sora appeared in front of her and sliced forward.

The girl stumbled backwards, giving Cloud, who had jumped up, to fall from the sky, and with his hand, strike her in the head.

She fell to the ground, and didn't get back up.

"We did it," Sora said, now being able to relax. "Thanks for the help, Cloud!"

Cloud either didn't hear him, or ignored him, as he kneeled down next to her. "We need to get her to Merlin's."

"Why?" Donald said. "She just tried to kill us!"

"Because of this." Cloud held up his hand. They saw he was holding the circlet the girl had been wearing.

000

Merlin looked at the circle intently.

"My, oh my," he said grimly.

"What is it?" Sora asked. He, Donald, Goofy and Cloud and returned with the girl, who was resting on the bed.

"Do you have any clue as to what this is?" He turned to Cloud.

"I saw something like that once," he said, "in a book of yours Tifa showed me once. When I saw it on her, I wanted to help, but," he turned his head to the side. "I couldn't think of anything else to do but fight."

Merlin rubbed his eyes. "What you did does not matter, just that this horrid thing is off of her."

"But, what is it?" Donald asked.

"This my boy," he held it up for all to see. "Is called a 'Slave Crown'."

"Slave Crown?" Sora repeated.

"Yes, they are also called 'Hypnocrowns', and 'Puppeteer Wheels'."

"What's it do?" Goofy asked.

"It is a horrible device, that when place on someone, drains them of their freewill, leaving them under the control of whoever place it on them in the first place." Merlin turned back to where the girl slept. "Poor child.

"But she almost killed us!" Donald said.

"Yes, but I doubt it was of her own choice. This device-"

"Make whoever wears it into a puppet," Cloud finished.

"Exactly."

"A puppet?" Sora asked. He walked over to the girl. Memories of Riku came into his head. "Will she be alright?"

The old wizard sighed. "I don't know. The most common side effect to wearing a Slave Crown is memory loss. So if she does wake up, we'll be lucky if she even knows her own name."

Sora looked down at the girl, sadly. He wished that he had wished for her to get better when he saw the 'star'.

Then, just like magic, she groaned in her sleep, before slowly opening her eyes. This caught everyone's attention.

"You're awake?!" Sora said loudly. This startled her, and she dove back beneath her covers.

"Sora!" Merlin snapped. "You must tread carefully; we don't know her mental state."

"Right," Sora nodded, before kneeling next to the bed. "Hey, are you okay?" he said in a softer voice.

The girl peak out slightly from under the covers, before wincing. Sora guessed that the Slave Crown also caused headaches.

"I'm-I'm fine," she said. It was almost a whisper. She looked around. "Where, am I?"

"You're at Merlin's house. That's Merlin right there." He pointed to the wizard. "And that's Donald, and Goofy, and Cloud." He pointed to himself. "And I'm Sora. What's your name?"

For a moment, it appeared that she didn't even know that, but after some hesitation, she spoke.

"My name," she said, positive this was the only sure thing she knew. "My name is Terra." (5)

(1) The name of the moogle at Disney Castle is named 'Mog'.

(2) She does this in the KH manga.

(3) This implies that s/he's Famed Mimic Gogo from _FFV. _

(4) If you think about it, don't Sora's Drives seem similar to the Mimic skill?

(5) This sections has two allusion; one for _Dead Fantasy, _and another for _Dissidia: Final Fantasy. _Try and find them.

Please review

Mrfipp


	6. V

Fipp: I would like to apologize in advance if these next chapters won't be so good, as there are no Pre-VII games in the KH series, nor Post-X.

Also, I've finally chosen the characters for the XI chapter!

Try and guess who.

**V**

_Galuf Halm Baldesion _

Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked down the streets of Radiant Garden, aiming about whatever business they had.

They then hears screams. They turned around to see several Heartless appear in the Market Place, attacking several people. With a nod, they brought their weapons out and attacked the Heartless, soon ridding them from the area.

"Is everyone alright?" Sora called out.

There were numerous people who said they were. Sora nodded to them, and was about to go his way, when they heard a heavy groan from a pile of broken crates.

Hearing this, they charged in after it, and pulled the person out of the rubble.

"You okay?" Donald asked the old man.

"Yeah, I'm okay," the man replied, rubbing the back of his head. "I was just walking along, trying to-um . . ." He thought. "I forgot."

"Huh?" Goofy said. "You forgot what you were trying to do?"

"It would seem so," the man brushed his mustache. "I know what I was supposed to be doing something important, I just can't recall what?" He blinked. "Wait, a minute!"

"You remember what you were trying to do?" Sora asked hopefully.

"Nope." He folded his arms over his chest. "I forgot who I was too."

". . ." Was the reply of all three.

"Wait! I think I remember something!"

"What?"

"Something about a rock! And wind rock!"

"A wind rock?" Donald asked skeptically.

"Yes! Also, I think I had to fight something!"

"What?" Sora asked.

"I think I'm supposed to fight a tree."

Sora looked on in confusion. "A tree?"

"An evil tree!"

"Okay, sure you are," Donald said slowly. He turned around and grabbed Goofy by the ear, and pulled him down. "I think this guy is short a few bolts!"

"I heard that!"

_Faris Scherwiz_

The sand groaned under their feet as they walked to the Coliseum's gate.

"So, what kind of opponents you think we're going to fight today?" Sora asked, grinning as he hoped for strong guys.

"I don't," Goofy said. "But the board had a lot of names on it."

"You three!" They turned to see Phil by the doors. "One word: You're up!"

"That's two words," Goofy muttered to himself, knowing Phil wouldn't pay attention to him.

They then ran forward for the match.

000

They entered the arena, just as their opponent entered.

"This guy looks tough," Donald whispered to Sora.

"Scared?" Sora teased.

"NO!"

"_Today's match," _the announcer said. _"Will be between Sora, Donald, and Goofy, against newcomer; Faris Scherwiz!"_

The three of them drew their weapons, as the purple-haired man drew his own weapon.

"Have at it then!" he called, pointing the blade at them.

The match started.

000

Sora had to hand it to Faris; he was certainly tough. His quick move with the saber he wielded gave them much difficulty, allowing for a better show for the many spectators who sat in the audience.

They cheered wildly as Sora dealt the final blow, sending the man tumbling to his knees.

The match was won.

000

"You did great!" Sora said to Faris as they entered the courtyard as Hercules as beating on his opponents in the ring.

Faris gave him a stony glare. "Aye, so did you," he said after a moment. "I will be back for another fight, you can hold me to that." With that, Faris left them.

"What's that guy's problem?" Donald huffed.

There was then a loud roar. The three of them looked up to see a large Heartless fly over the wall, having been thrown out by Hercules, and fall to the ground.

Right atop Faris.

"Faris!" Sora called, running forward.

"Huh?" Faris turned around, just as Sora jumped on him, to push him out of the way as the Heartless came down.

"Sora!" Donald and Goofy cried. They ran forward just as the Heartless began to dissolve. They found Sora laying atop Faris.

"Are you okay?" he asked Faris.

"Get off me," Faris growled.

Sora was about to quickly do so, but he felt something under his hands. He looked down, then quickly jumped off of him, and began to scurry back.

"You-yer-a-I-you-a!" He babbled, his entire face flushed, as he pointed at Faris.

"Are you okay Sora?" Goofy asked. "What's wrong?"

Sora continued to babble more nonsensical words for ten more seconds before he managed to form a complete one. "He's a SHE!"

"WHAT?!" Donald snapped, and turned to Faris. "You're a girl!?"

"Aye," Faris said, dusting himself-scratch that-herself off. "Your friend grabbed something by accident."

"Sora!" Donald chastised.

"I didn't mean too!" Sora cried.

"It doesn't matter," Faris said, turning around. "Though, I wouldn't be surprised if I kill the little whelp next time I see him." She gave Sora a very evil stare.

"Yes Ma'am!" Sora squeaked.

The woman shook her head, before stalking off.

_Lenna Charlotte_

"It's been strange, hasn't it?" Sora asked.

"What?" Goofy answered.

'Have you guys noticed that, there's no wind?"

"Wind?" Donald said.

"Yeah, it's kind of weird, and it's not just here in Twilight Town, but on all the other worlds, like Radiant Garden. Kind of weird if you ask me." Sora assumed a thinking position. "I wonder what it means."

Donald and Goofy assumed similar poses as they thought on this.

"Hmm," they thought.

. . .

"What are you guys doing?" asked a voice from behind.

"Thinking," Sora said, not moving.

"Thinking?"

"Yup," this was Goofy.

"On what?"

"Wind?"

"Yup," Donald said this. "It's not moving."

The person, a girl with pink hair, looked up into the sky. "It would seem that's true."

"I wonder what's up with that?" Sora said.

The girl appeared to think, before promptly turning away. "Don't worry," she said, turning back around to them as she walked away. "Something's going to be done about it!" She then rushed off, leaving the three to ponder.

_Krile Mayer Baldesion_

"What are these things?" Sora asked.

"They look like chickens," Goofy said. "Why are they all corralled up like this?"

"Maybe we're supposed to farm them for eggs and meat," Donald said.

"No kupo!" They turned around to see a Moogle flying towards them. "These are Chocobos!"

"Chocobos?" Sora asked. "What are those?"

"Chocobos are like horses." They turned around to see a small blonde girl walk up to them.

"So you can ride them and stuff?" Sora looked out to the birds, who were eating green grasses out of a bin.

"Yes you can," the girl answered.

"But why are they here?" Sora walked over to the birds, and raised his hand to bet it, but pulled it back when it snapped at him.

The girl laughed at him. "You have to be careful with that one; he tends to bite."

"I can see," Sora moped, cradling his perfectly fine hand as though it had been sheared in half.

"Back in the day, Radiant Garden had a great Chocobo stall, or so I'm told, and recently, the RGRC found a bunch of them in the wild," the girl said, grabbing hold of a bag of greens and began to feed a Chocobo. "They were able to recapture some of them and built these stables, and I volunteered to help." She gave a smile as she pat the bird's beak.

_Bartz Klauser_

The three of them collapsed to the ground.

"I think we lost him," Donald said. "Stupid dog."

"How could Pluto run that fast?" Sora groaned. "Does he ever run out of energy?"

"I don't think I ever saw him get tired or nothing," Goofy added.

They groaned, and decided it was best that they take a quick break.

That quick break turned into an hour-long nap.

. . .

"Kweh?"

"Huh?" Sora opened his eyes to see a massive, yellow bird above him. "AHG!" He jumped up, sending Donald and Goofy tumbling. "What the-What is that thing!"

Donald and Goofy drew their weapons, ready if the giant chicken attacked them.

"Hey! Stop!" a voice yelled from behind them. "Stop!" a young man with a red cape ran up to them, and right passed them.

"Uh, is this bird yours?" Sora asked, keeping an eye on the thing.

"Yeah, sorry, but he kind of got away from me," the man chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Boko tends to do things like that."

"Boko?" Sora raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, this is Boko! And my name's Bartz. What about you three?"

"I'm Sora, this is Donald, and that's Goofy." Sora pointed to each one of them.

"So Sora, what are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?" Bartz asked.

"We could ask you the same thing!" Donald said.

"Me? Why, what else? I'm traveling!"

"Travelin'?" Goofy said. "Where ya travelin' to?"

Bartz shrugged. "No where really. I'm just wandering the world like an aimless wind. What about you guys?"

"We're looking for some friends of ours," Sora answered, lowering his head. "And the only clue as to where they might be is in a letter that a dog won't give us."

"Dog?" Bartz said. "Yellow, and holding an envelope in its mouth?"

"YES!" the three yelled, causing Bartz to take a step back.

"Uh, yeah, I just saw him like five minutes ago, sleeping by a tree."

"You did?!"

Bartz nodded. "Yeah, and I walked here on foot, so he's probably still there."

And not even a second later, the three of them dashed away towards where Bartz had come from.

"Thank you!" they called back.

Bartz, after a moment, scratched his chin. "Man, what a weird bunch of guys, huh Boko?"

"Kweh!"

Please review

Mrfipp


	7. IV

**IV**

_Rydia_

The perpetual night sky of Traverse Town shone with the remaining stars that had not yet been consumed by the Heartless.

On the roofs, was Sora.

He was on the roofs looking for treasure. There were several times when Sora had been forced to combat Heartless on the roofs, and as a result, had often found useful items such as potions, eithers, and elixirs, that had been dropped by them when they had been defeated. He was looking for anything that had been dropped, and neglected to be picked up.

So far he had found nothing.

He was about to turn around, to call it a night, when he heard something.

Crying.

He looked around to find the source of the noise, and looked down to one of the lower leveled roofs and saw a small, green-haired girl curled up and crying.

"Hey," Sora said softly, "are you okay?"

The girl sniffled before replying. "Go away!"

He slightly recoiled, and considered if he should leave her alone, but he knew he couldn't leave her like this.

He hoped down from his level and landed next to her and sat down.

She scooted away.

Sora reached out a hand, and touched her shoulder.

"What's-"

She instantly broke down even further. If that was possible.

The girl flung herself into Sora's lap and began to wail.

Sora froze, not entirely sure what to do, as crying children were not his specialty.

He gave her time, and let her unload her emotions.

After a while, she calmed down, until her cries became mere sniffles.

"The black things," she said softly.

"Huh?" Sora placed a hand on her head.

"They killed Mama."

Sora stiffened.

"They killed Mama."

He lowered his head, and gently stroked her hair.

000

Sora, Donald and Goofy walked through the marketplace of Radiant Garden.

Sora bumped into someone.

"Sorry," the green-haired woman said.

"No, it's my fault," Sora said.

They both continued on their ways, but Sora stopped and turned back to her.

"Sora!" Donald called. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Sora turned back to his companions. "Yeah, it's just," He turned around to find the woman, but she had already disappeared into the crowd. "That woman looked familiar."

Sora shrugged the feeling away, and continued on his way.

_Edward Chris von Muir and Tellah_

"You guys hear that?" Sora asked.

"Hear what?" Goofy asked.

"You don't hear it? C'mon, listen up!"

Donald and Goofy paid close attention to whatever it was Sora had heard.

The air was being filled with the gentle strumming of a harp.

"Music?" Donald asked. "Who's playing music?"

"I don't know, but I think it's kinda purdy," Goofy said.

"Where's it coming from through?" Sora looked around for the source of the music. "It looks like it's coming from up there!" Sora pointed to the upper levels of the castle wall they were next to.

The three of them walked up the closest stairs to them and went up to the upper level.

On the wall, facing the mountains in the distance was a young, blonde man playing a harp.

They listened in silence for several minutes as he finished his song. When he was done, they began to clap.

"Huh?" The man turned to them with a questioning look, as though he had not noticed them when they arrived.

"That was a nice song you were playing," Sora said.

The man gave a smile. "Thank you. That song is a favorite of someone very important to me."

"I can see why."

"Do you take requests?" Donald asked.

"Of course," the man said. "So long as I know the song." He began to pluck several strings, but-

"You!"

A string broke. The man looked around frantically and jumped up from is spot. "I'm sorry, but I have to go!"

He then quickly ran away.

"Get back here!"

The three of them turned around to see an elderly man run up to them and stop, seeming to catch his breath. "Get back here you swine! You scoundrel! You-You-!" He grew red with anger. "YOU SPOONY BARD!"

The older man gave chase to the bard, leaving the heroes in confusion.

"What was that about?" Donald asked.

"I don't know," Sora scratched his head, "but do either of you know what a 'Spoony Bard' is?"

_Yang Fang Leiden_

"Where do you think Tifa's been lately?" Yuffie asked aloud.

"Couldn't tell you," Squall said, not really caring enough to listen to her.

"You haven't seen Tifa lately?" Sora asked the ninja.

Yuffie shook her head. "Kind of, but every time I see her, she's usually in a rush, or dead tired."

"You think she's alright?" Sora asked.

"Maybe, I tried to follow her several times, but some idiot keeps calling me and says I have to get to work and stuff."

"Well this _idiot_," Squall said in annoyance, "is your boss."

She ignored him. "She usually goes up to the mountain. Hey! How about you check it out! I'd go, but my boss is really pushing me hard. I swear, sometimes he's just-"

"I wonder if I should take away your vacation time."

"The best boss in the world!"

Sora sighed, and left the two to the petty argument that would ensure.

000

Sora, Donald and Goofy walked down the mountain path, in search of the woman they were sent after.

"I wonder where she goes," Sora wonder to himself.

It was then a rock exploded from an above ledge.

After some panicking and dodging, they were able to avoid all the debris, they ran up the mountain path, leading to the top of the plateau.

000

Tifa slid backwards, she stopped herself before she slid too far. She readjusted her stance.

"You certainly are an impressive woman," her opponent said.

"Thank you," she said.

The man gave a warm chuckle. "Everyday you come up here, and challenge me to a spar, and I must admit, that I have always enjoyed them. You certainly can prove a challenge."

Tifa nodded. "That's why I keep coming up."

"Hey Tifa!"

Tifa and the man turned around to see Sora, Donald and Goofy run up the path.

"Sora?" Tifa asked.

"Ah, so this is Sora? The wielder of the Keyblade?" the man said. "It is an honor to meet such a young lad."

Sora turned to Tifa. "Who is this guy? Is he why you keep disappearing?"

"Disappearing?" Tifa asked questioningly.

"Yeah, Yuffie said you kept disappearing without telling anyone where you were going."

Tifa raised an eyebrow. "But, I told Yuffie where I was going."

"Who did? But she-"

Tifa sighed. "She mustn't have been paying attention. Again."

"Sounds like her." Sora turned to the man. "Who are you again?"

The man bowed. "My name is Yang, young Keyblade-child."

"Yang?"

"Yes, Yang is one of the strongest martial artist in the world," Tifa approached Sora. "I've been training myself against him to improve my own skills. He has me up here every morning for a spar. Though," she turned back to Yang, "you were late today."

"Sorry," Yang apologized, "but my wife lost the frying pan, so I couldn't wake up."

"Frying pan?" Goofy asked. "You can't wake up without the smell of eggs and bacon in the morning?"

Yang shook his head. "No. She hits me with it."

"I think I'd rather have an alarm clock," Donald mumbled.

_Palom and Porom_

"Hey Merlin!" Sora called as he, Donald and Goofy entered the wizard's house. "We need to ask you something. "Merlin!"

The wizard didn't come.

"Merlin?" Donald called.

"Maybe he's not home?" Goofy suggested.

"You got that right bub," said a voice.

The three of them turned to see two small children, a boy and girl, walk out of the back

door.

"The coot's not home right now."

The little girl then gave a quick, and apparently painful yank, on the boy's ponytail, as he let out a yelp when she did.

"What my brother means," the girl said. "Is that Master Merlin is not home right now. Though we'd be happy to help you if we can."

"Who are you two?" Sora asked. "And what are you doing in Merlin's house?"

"My name is Porom," the girl said, indicating herself, "and this is my twin brother-"

"The name's Palom!" the boy boasted. "The soon-to-be-greatest-sage who ever existed!"

Porom sighed. "Please excuse him, he was dropped on his head. A lot."

"Hey!"

"We came here looking for books on White and Black Magic. He said we could come anytime we needed anything."

"When we came here, he had to go somewhere and left us to watch his home."

"Wait? White and Black Magic?" Sora scratched his head. "What are those?"

"They're types of magic," Donald answered. "White Magic is used for healing, and Black Magic is used for destruction." He lifted his staff up. "I'm a Black Mage!"

"There's also other types of Color Magic," Porom said.

"If you guys are going to talk about boring stuff, I'm leaving," Palom left the room.

"There's Red Magic; which is a balance of White and Black Magic, as well as swordplay. Though while they can use all three, they can't master each skill to its fullest."

"Green magic is used to buff up your allies, and weaken your enemies," Donald said.

"And Blue Magic is where you learn techniques monsters use."

"Really?" Sora said, now interested in this. He turned to Donald. "How can I learn Blue Magic."

"You have to get hit with the attack first," Donald answered.

"Oh."

"There aren't many Blue Mages since they normally die trying to learn new spells."

"Oh."

"And there are rumors that if they don't have enough control over their magic, you turn into a monster."

"I don't want to learn Blue Magic anymore."

There was then an explosion from the backroom.

"I didn't play with Merlin's chemistry sets!" Palom yelled.

"PALOM!" Porom screamed, before running into the backroom.

_Cid Pollendina_

"Wow, this place is impressive," Sora said, walking into the large room filler with various mechanical devices. "This is the airship hangar?"

"King Mickey's been helping reconstruction," Cid Highwind explained. "He sent a couple of squirrels over to help with the airships."

"I thought Chip 'n Dale were chipmunks?" Goofy asked.

"They are!" Donald said.

"And, you're managing all this buy yourself?" Sora asked.

"Heh," Cid took out his toothpick. "Nah, when we posted news about this in the newspapers, we got a lot of people want to help." He shook his head. "Though, none of them knew starboard from port."

"Yeah, hehe." Sora didn't know the difference either. Wouldn't be easier to say 'front' and 'back'?

"But I did manage to find one guy who knew exactly what he was doing!"

"Really?"

"Yeah. He even had some blueprints about improved designs and such." he put the toothpick back into his moth and smirked. "While normally I'm not one to get impressed by other people, but this guy is really something."

"He sounds good. What's his name?"

"Hey, Cid!" The four of them turned to see a stout man with a large red beard walk up to them. "Where've you been all day? I've think I found a way to get around the circuitry problem we've been having."

"That's great!" Cid pointed to the man. "Sora, this is that man I was talking about; Cid."

"Wait, I thought you were Cid?"

"I am, but so is he."

"That kind of confused us at first too," Cid P. said.

"Coincidently if you ask me," Cid H. said. "That there are two Cids' who have interests in airship."

"That's weird." A thought then struck Sora. "Hey! What if there's a whole bunch of other people named Cid out there who like airships! Maybe thirteen, or maybe fourteen of them!"

. . .

The four other people stared at him.

"That's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard," Cid P. said.

_Edge_

The Keyblade sliced down, downing another Heartless, thus finishing off the group they had been fighting.

"Was that the last of them?" Goofy asked, looking around.

"I think so," Sora said, slinging his weapon over his shoulder. "That wasn't so hard. It's all in a day's work of-"

"Sora!" Donald called.

The Keyblader looked behind him, to see a large Heartless about to rake its claws through him.

It then split in two as a large shuriken sliced through it.

Sora blinked in shock, before following the weapon as it turned around in the air and headed back to its point of origin.

"Yuffie?" he asked.

"Don't know who that is." The shuriken was suddenly caught by an outreached hand. "But I can guarantee you that I'm not them."

"Who are you?" Sora asked.

"Don't know huh?" the masked man smirked. "Sad, you don't know that." The man then leaped into the air and landed between the three, his cape billowing in the breeze, and threw his arm out. "Edge!"

. . .

"Edge of what?" Sora asked.

The man stumbled out of his position for a moment. "That's my name!"

"Oh. Why didn't you say so? We could have avoided that confusion had you done so."

Edge growled and rubbed his eyes in frustration. "Just what are you three doing here anyway? Dangerous this far from the city."

"What about you?" Sora asked. "You're all the way out here too."

"That's because I'm here to kill these monsters," Edge said, folding his arms over his chest.

"You mean the Heartless?"

"Yeah, whatever those things are called."

"All by yourself? That sounds dangerous," Donald said.

"Hey? How about we help you?" Goofy suggested.

"I'm good," Edge said, turning around. "I can handle them on my own. I don't need help." His voice took on a darker tone when he said this. He turned away from them. "These things have greatly wronged me, and I'm going to do everything I can to destroy them."

He then jumped away, leaving the three by themselves.

_Rosa Joanna_

"These attacks are getting relentless," Sora said through panting breaths.

There was a Heartless attack in the Market Place, and while no one was killed, there were still many injured.

"We really need to find a way to get rid of them for good, or at least make sure that they stay outside the walls," Donald said.

"Everyone is alright." The three of them turned to see the person who had been healing the injured; a young blonde woman who was named Rosa.

She had been passing by when the Heartless attacked, and begun to heal those who had been injured, as well as aiding Sora, Donald and Goofy when they had been hurt during the fight.

"That's good," Sora said. "I'm surprised that no one was killed though."

Rosa nodded in agreement.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sora asked. "You seem kind of down."

"Uh?" Rosa asked, looking towards Sora. "Yes, I'm fine, it's just," she trailed off.

"Just what?" Goofy asked.

"Oh, it's nothing." She sighed. "I guess, I am just worried about how fast the Heartless are spreading." She looked out to the horizon. "There are people out there, dear friends of mine, who left to help fight them, but neither one has returned."

"They haven't?" Sora sadly said.

"No. And while I have faith in them, I just can't help but be worried."

"Do you have any idea where they might be?" Donald asked.

Rosa shook her head. "No, no I don't."

"I hope they come back to you," Sora said, "and soon."

Rosa gave a small smile. "I hope so too."

_Kain Highwind_

"Magicite? Materia?" Goofy asked, poking at the crystals growing from the walls.

"Yeah, Squall said that these caves grow magic stone naturally," Sora said, looking over the walls. "Yuffie also said that certain stones are worth a lot of munny."

"Which ones?" asked Donald, who was equipped from head-to-toe in mining gear. "Where do we start?"

"Hm," Sora looked for a good spot to start. "There!" He pointed to a oddly round stone that glowered green. He walked up to the stone and placed a hand on it, and to his surprise, it broke off the wall. "Wow, that was easy."

"Look out!" Goofy yelled.

Sora spun around just in time to see a spear about to pierce his face. He ducked it and rolled away from his assailant, landing next to Donald and Goofy.

"HEY!" Sora yelled at the man who attacked him. "What was that for?!"

"Yeah! Just who are you!?" squawked Donald.

The man said nothing as he stood up and readjusted his grip on his spear.

"That stone you have," he said, staring at them through the eyeholes in the dragon-like helmet. "I have to take it from you."

"The crystal?" Sora asked, looking down at the stone. "Why do you need it?"

"Who cares why he needs it!" Donald pulled out his staff. "We found it first! Finders keepers!"

"He also almost turned Sora into shish kabob," Goofy pointed out.

"Yeah, that too."

"Hn." The man raised the spear and pointed it at the three. "If you won't give it too me, then I'll just have to take it from you."

000

The man collapsed to one knee, clutching the spear tightly.

"Dammit," he cursed.

"Just who are you?" Sora asked, keeping the Keyblade in his hand.

"His name is of no importance."

The three didn't even get a chance to turn around, when they were assaulted by a barrage of lightning bolts, sending the crashing to the ground in pain.

"You-You've come?" The spearman kneeled down hastily.

"I have."

Sora opened his eyes, to see a large man clad in dark armor walk from the shadows.

"Who-?" Sora tried to say. "Who are you?"

The man in black stopped in his tracks and looked down to Sora. "I am someone who you could never hope to best," he said. He outreached his hand, and the crystal that Sora had taken floated off the ground and flew into his grasp. "We have accomplished what we've come here to do. Time to part." He spun, his large cape waving in the air, before vanishing in a crackle of lightning.

"Yes, sir," the spearman said, before he too vanished in a similar manner.

The three were left there in pain, wondering as to what had just happened.

_Cecil Harvey_

"Just who were those guys?" Sora asked, as he, Donald and Goofy walked out of the cave, after having been attacked by those two strange men in dark armor.

"I don't know," Donald said. "But they seemed as though the really wanted that crystal for some reason."

"They could have asked for it," Goof said. "Lighting hurts."

There was then a low growl from behind them. They turned around to see a large Heartless pounce from above them.

They were about to grab their weapon and destroy it, when a blast of black fire appeared and seared right through it.

"Huh?" Sora asked in surprise and spun around to see whoever just did that.

Standing not to far off, was a man dressed entirely in dark, full body armor. "Are you okay?" he asked, walking forward.

Donald pulled out his weapon. "Hey! Who are you!?"

The man took a step backward incase the duck attacked.

"Sorry about that," Sora said, pushing the staff away. "He's a little jumpy right now."

"He could be with them!"

"Who?" the man asked.

"We just got attacked by some guys in armor!" Goofy said.

". . .Armor?" He appeared to think about this. "What kind of armor?"

"Well, one was dressed like a dragon, and the other one was huge and black!" Sora said.

"Where did they go!" the man said urgently.

"They vanished."

"Oh." He now sounded disappointed.

"Why? Do you know them?"

He seemed hesitant. "No." He began to walk away.

"Hey!" Sora called. "Where are you going?"

The man turned around to face Sora. "I'm heading off to find a mountain somewhere out there."

"Why do you have to go all the way out there?" Goofy asked.

He lowered his head. "There's something in it that I need."

"Need?" Sora scratched his head. "What?"

"I power that I need to fight someone. If I can't obtain it, then many more people will get hurt."

"All by yourself?" Goofy asked.

"Yes."

"Then how about we help you?" Sora said.

"Pardon?"

"If you can help people with this power, then we'll do anything to help.

"Sora," Donald growled.

The man seemed hesitant. "Very well. It's this way." He began to walk off.

"By the way! My name's Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy."

The man chuckle. "And my name is Cecil."

Please reveiw

Mrfipp


	8. III

Fipp: Sorry this one isn't as long as the others were, but there was less to work with here.

**III**

_Onion Knights_

Sora laid on the roof, arms folded under his head, having them act as a pillow. He looked to his right, then to his left. Both Donald and Goofy were asleep.

It was sunset in Radiant Garden.

He had considered sleeping himself, but he found himself unable to.

It was then he heard the door of the building he was resting on open up.

"Huh?" he said, becoming startled by the noise. This prompted him to rollover.

Though to his dismay, he rolled down the slope, off the roof, and to crash to the ground.

"Sora!" he heard Merlin through the door. The elderly wizard ran out of his house and kneeled down next to Sora. "Are you all right my boy?"

"I'm fine. Spine broke my fall."

"Is he alright?" said another voice from behind Merlin. Sora looked behind and saw a silver-haired child wearing large, puffy shorts, and a helmet with large, feathery plumes sticking out from the top.

"He will be," Merlin said. He then turned to the child. "Luneth, could you and the others help me out and place him on the bed?"

The child, Luneth, nodded and ran back into the house to retrieve whoever these 'others' were.

000

"Thanks Merlin!" Sora said, stretching his newly healed back. He loved magic. Especially when it saved him from possible paralysis.

He looked around the room to see that Merlin had three other guests other than the first child.

The other three were the same age at the first. The second one was a boy with reddish-brown hair, the third an redhead girl, and finally a blonde boy.

They were all wearing the same kinds of armor, with the exception of each one wearing a different color scheme (1).

"So Merlin," he asked the wizard.

"Just who are these kids? And why are they wearing these funny hats?"

"Don't insult my hat!" Luneth called out.

"Sora," Merlin said. "I would like to introduce you to Luneth, Arc, Refia, and Ingus." He gestured to the children. "And they, are Onion Knights."

. . .

"Onion Knight?" Sora asked, perplexed by the title the children had. "So, they garden?"

"We don't garden," the boy with the red-brown hair, Arc said. "We're warriors."

"Warriors?" Sora asked. "But, you're like, twelve."

"You're one too talk!" the redhead, Refia, said. "You don't look much older than us!"

"She has a point," said the blonde, Ingus.

"Yeah, I guess," said Sora, now a little downed as what he said was turned against him. "Still, 'Onion Knights' sounds funny."

"So does 'Keyblade'."

They did it again!

"So, Merlin," Sora said, trying to get away from more humiliation. "Just who are these guys anyway?"

"Well, as I told you just now, they are Onion Knights,"

"Okay, but what exactly _is _an Onion Knight?"

Merlin cleared his throat. "The Onion Knight, is a title given to children, who show great promise."

"And we have a mission to accomplish to just show how much promise we have," Luneth said.

"A mission?" Sora raised an eyebrow. "What kind of mission?"

"Are you aware of what a Crystal is?" Arc asked.

"Yeah! There's a bunch of them in the caves down in the valleys and ravines."

Refia shook her head. "We're not talking about those things."

Ingus spoke up. "We're talking about each World's Crystals."

"The world has its own Crystal?"

Luneth shook his head. "It does." He paused. "Actually, it has four Crystals."

"A Crystal for each element," said Arc. "One for wind, one for fire, one for water, and one for earth. These are the Crystals that bind the elements of this world together."

Ingus folded his arms over his chest. "Without these Crystals, the world would fall apart without the elements to sustain them."

"So these Crystals keep the elements in check?"

"That's right," Refia said.

"But what about this mission you guys talked about earlier?"

"There's something wrong with the Crystals," Arc said. "It's our job to see if there's anything wrong with them, and if so, purify them to get rid of what's wrong with them."

"So far, we've been to the Crystals of Wind, and Earth," Ingus said. "And so far in each one, there was darkness growing in them, and while we were able to get rid of it," he left it off there.

"You don't know what's wrong?" Sora asked.

"Not in the slightest," Luneth shook his head. "That's why we came to Merlin, we heard he could help us."

"But sadly," the wizard said. "I don't have any idea in the slightest as to what could be tainting the Crystals." He turned to the Onion Knights. "I'm sorry that I wasn't able to give you any help."

"That's okay," Refia said, though it seemed her mind was elsewhere.

"Well, if there's nothing left here for us, we should get going," Luneth said. "It's been nice meeting you Sora and Merlin!" He was half-way out the door, before popping back into the room. "Wait, which Crystal is our next stop?"

Arc gave this a moments though. "I think the Water Crystal is next."

"Right!" Luneth left the room.

"We should get going too," Ingus said, before leaving as well. Arc and Refia followed as well.

"Crystals, huh?" Sora said. Could this have anything to do with the one those two men in the dark armor took.

(1) Blue, green, cobalt, and purple respectively.

Please review

Mrfipp


	9. II

Fipp: A thanks to Sakura Sama 101 for giving me some assistance on this chapter.

And this must be my most plot driven chapter for this story yet.

**II**

_Richard_

"Look at this place," Sora said to Donald and Goofy as they approached what was once Maleficent's castle, which rested just outside Radiant Garden.

"It look real creepy," Goofy said. "Are you sure Squall wanted us to check it out?"

Donald nodded. "He said that a lot of Heartless were appearing lately, and he wanted us to check it out."

They were about to proceed forward when the front doors exploded, then, out from the smoke, jumped out a man in armor.

He landed on the ground and slid backwards until he wasn't too far from where he started.

"Damn," he rasped.

"YOU!" the three heroes yelled, getting the armored man's attention. "You're the guy who attacked us!"

The man raised an eyebrow under his helmet. "I'm sorry, but I've never seen any of you before in my life."

"You attacked us in that cave!" Donald yelled.

"What are you talking about?"

"Some guy that looks like you attacked us in a cave last week!" Sora pointed his Keyblade at him. "Same kind of armor, and same kind of weapon."

"But, that's impossible," the man said. "It sounds like you were attacked by a Dragoon, but I am the last of them."

"Are we sure this is the same guy?" Goofy asked. "He sounds different then the last guy."

"I think so too," Sora said.

"Well I'm not convinced," Donald growled.

"Whatever trouble you had with this man, we can discuss later, as we are in much trouble," the man said.

"Trouble?" Sora asked. "What kind of trouble?"

"That."

The three of them turned to the door from which the Dragoon came from to see several figures clad in black armor approaching them.

"Are those, Heartless?" Sora asked, readying his weapon, just as Donald and Goofy.

"While that is not impossible," the Dragoon said. "I sense something more sinister at work here."

"If they're not Heartless, then what are they?" Donald asked.

"That is what I came here to investigate, but it would seem that we must retreat for now." He put his fingers in his mouth and blew a ear-splitting whistle.

Seconds later, a loud roar filled the air, and a large dragon swooped down from the sky, quickly scattered the dark soldiers, while bathing them in fire, before landing on the ground by the Dragoon. He then jumped onto the beast's back.

"Hurry!" he called out. "Get on! We must flee!"

Sora looked to the flaming soldiers to see them standing up, while more poured in from the door.

Seeing no choice, they jumped onto the dragon's back, and fled into the sky.

_Leila_

"Who do you think it is?" Sora asked.

They had just arrived back to the city, and had spoken with Squall. After some investigation, they had learned that someone had taken up residence in Maleficent's castle.

Question is, who?

"And what were those things that attacked us?" Goofy asked.

"There's got to be someone who knows something," Donald sighed to himself.

"You guys looking for information?" The three stopped in their walking and turned around to an alley opening. There, they saw a young woman wearing a bandana, leaning against the wall.

"Who are you?" Sora asked.

"Me name's Leila," the woman said. "And if there's something you need to know, I can get me hands on it."

"How would you know something?"

"That's what I do. I know pretty much everything there is to know about anything in this world." Leila pushed herself off the wall. "Follow me to my offices, and we can talk about what you need." She walked down the alley.

Sora was about to walk forward, but Donald grabbed his sleeve.

"Are you sure we should follow her?" he asked, before looking skeptically down where Leila had left.

Sora shrugged his shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm sure she's okay. She just seems like a nice person who likes to help people."

"Yeah Donald, ya got to be a little less paranoid," Goofy added. "I mean, it's not like when she has us cornered, she gonna call out a gang of big tough thugs to mug us."

. . .

"Yeah, I bet you're right," Donald said.

_Gordon_

"Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle the situation?" Squall asked. Ever since the man had founded the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee, people had looked towards him as the unofficial leader of this world. While he didn't know what he felt about that exactly, Squall followed the role accordingly.

Everyone who was a member of the RGRC was present. With the exception of the person who had been recently assigned Head of External Security, who was absent.

Squall commented he wasn't surprised, and not too worry about it.

"Just a reminder, but what's the situation again?" Yuffie asked.

Squall sighed. "Something has taken residence in Maleficent's castle, and we don't know what."

"And whatever the hell it is keeps summoning demons to the city," Cid H. said. "And we can't get too close to it without getting swarmed by more of them."

"Can we do anything about it?" Aerith asked.

Squall closed his eyes. "King Mickey has talked about sending people to aid us, aside from Donald and Goofy. He's also called in a favor from an associate he made while traveling the worlds."

000

Sora walked through one of the halls of the RGRC's base, looking for Squall to talk about the castle.

"I'm not sure," said a voice from around the corner.

"Well too bad!" This was Donald. "You have to man-up and take charge!"

"Donald's right," said Goofy."

"Donald? Goofy?" Sora asked, turning the corner.

The two turned around. "Sora?"

"Who's this?" Sora asked, looking to the young blonde man they appeared to be reprimanding.

Donald folded his arms. "This is Richard," he did not sound at all pleased.

"King Mickey met him on his journeys," Goofy followed. "He called in a favor and asked to help Radiant Garden with that spooky castle."

"Why would he ask him though?" Sora asked.

"Richard's the ruler of a world, that the King helped out once, and now he's helping us."

"But," Donald bitterly said. "He's backing out!" He pointed an accusing finger at the man, who flinched back.

"Backing out?" Sora asked.

"I am sorry," Richard said, lowering his head. "I can't help you at all. I am sorry, but I am nothing more then a coward."

"Well too bad!" Donald snapped. "We need help! And you said you'd help!"

Richard shook his head and took several steps back. "I'm sorry, but I can't help you in any way. I," he hesitated to say. "I can't do anything to help you." He spun around and began to walk down the hall. "If I am able to stand by people close to me, then I can't help anyone else."

He turned around a corner, and out of sight.

Donald fumed. "You little," he growled. He jumped into the air with an angry squawk and chased after the man.

"We better make sure Donald doesn't hurt him," Goofy said, before giving chase.

Sora stood there for several moments, giving thought to Richard's last words.

"You can't save anyone if you do nothing at all."

He than walked down the hall, following the three.

_Josef_

They walked over to the edge of the wall, and looked out to the horizon.

"What was that you think?" Sora asked, looking to the castle.

"I don't know," Goofy said. "But something's going on though."

"But what?" Donald said. "For the last few days the wind's been picking up around there!"

"And every time Leon sends someone to check, they just keep getting attacked by more of those monsters," Sora said. "If only we could find someway to get close to it without being spotted." Sora slumped where he stood and onto the railing.

"There may be a way." The three looked to their right to see a bald man with a green cape draped across his shoulders.

Why were there so many people sneaking up on them?

"You must be Sora, Donald and Goofy," he said, before turning to them. "Squall has mentioned you. My name is Joseph, and I am a volunteer who is assisting the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee."

"What did you mean there might be a way to get there?" Sora asked.

Joseph pointed out the castle. "I had lived in the Radiant Garden before it collapsed, and back then I was a mythril miner."

"You mined mythril?" Donald raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, there used to be large veins of it in the mountains, and many tunnels were created to extract it. One of those tunnels has two different entrances; one near the city's walls, and another near the castle." He folded his arms over his chest. "Hopefully, those dark armies will not have discovered it.

"In several day's time, I will lead a small expedition into these caves. If you speak with Squall, he may permit you to assist me." Joseph walked away.

"We should go with him!" Donald piped up.

"You just want the mythril, because it's worth a lot of money." Sora flatly said.

"Um," Donald tried to stall for something to say. He came up with an idea. "Okay, I do want the mythril! But only because it's a valuable alchemic tool!"

"We don't believe you," Goofy said.

_Minwu_

Sora coughed as he and Goofy, following Donald, entered the shop.

According to the duck, it was a magic shop

'But, why do you need to know how to pull a rabbit out of yer hat?' Goofy had asked.

'Not THAT kind of magic shop!' Donald reprimanded.

According to Donald, magic shops sold a variety of different books, scrolls and tomes that held all sorts of different magic spells.

Currently, the wizard was looking for a spell called 'Meteor'. Sora wasn't really too sure on how he felt about that, since there was a chance Donald would use it on one of his comrades should he enter one of his tantrums.

Sora poked at one of the dusty old books, wishing to leave this spooky old place. He kept getting the feeling that something would leap out of one of the books and-

"May I help you?"

Sora yelped, and spun around to face the demon from the book.

But it was only a white-dressed man.

"Are you okay?" the man asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Sora sighed. It was good to see this man wouldn't eat him.

"Are you interested in purchasing any spells?" the man said. "We have a large variety, ranging from elemental, non-elemental, White Magic, Black Magic, Blue-"

"No Blue Magic!"

The man raised an eyebrow. "Okay," he said slowly, wondering about the odd reaction.

"I'm not looking for any spells, I'm just here with a friend, who actually is looking for spells." Sora though. "Though, I hope he doesn't end up using it on us."

"Hopefully, your friend will not, that may not matter if he cannot use the spell he seeks."

"But he is a wizard," Sora said. "I'm sure he can use any kind of spell."

"While true," the man said. "I will not allow some of these spells to be sold to anyone unless they are the most powerful of mages." He looked to the back of the room. "Such spells can only be even looked upon by the likes of great sages like Merlin, Yen Sid, and Tellah. There are even spells back there that cannot be opened without a great cost."

"You run this store, right?" Sora and the man turned around to see Donald walk up to the latter.

"Yes, I am the proprietor of this establishment," the man answered.

"I'd like to but this!" He held up a book.

The man turned to Sora.

"That was one of the spells I was talking about."

"Of course it is."

_Leon_

There were screams as the soldiers ran through the city.

One of the demonic knights raised its sword, about to cut down a citizen.

Sora blocked the sword, appearing just in time. The citizen ran away. The Keyblader pushed the demon back, before slicing at it across the stomach.

He wiped the sweat from his brow, having defeated another one, but still far from done.

Out of nowhere, this army appeared and began to raze the city. He had separated from Donald and Goofy, so they could take help more people and cover more ground much quickly.

"You were able to handle that quickly."

Sora spun around just as a dark portal appeared from the ground. Out of this darkness, stepped out a man clad entirely in pitch-black armor. With the exception of the eye slit on the helmet, Sora could not see any bit of his body.

"Who are you?" Sora asked, gripping the Keyblade tightly.

"It doesn't matter who I am," the man said. Darkness spread in his hand and a wicked-looking sword appeared. "What matters is that we are both here." He assumed a battle stance.

Sora took a step back. "Do you have anything to do with these demons?"

"It's possible," the man said. Darkness thickened around him, and he began to attack.

000

Sora caught his breath as the Dark Knight stood strong after their fierce fight. Then, too his surprise, the man dismissed his sword.

"Huh?"

"I no longer need to be here," the man said. The portal appeared around him.

"Hey! Wait!" Sora ran after the man, but he had already vanished before he could get there, leaving him wondering as to who he was.

000

The portal vanished, leaving the Dark Knight in a kneeling position.

"So, how did it go?" The Knight raised his head to meet the gold-clad man sitting upon the throne.

"I was able to encounter him, sir," the knight said.

"And how did he perform?"

"He was able to defeat a number of soldiers, and was able withstand my own skills."

The man chuckled. "Is that so?" He waved his hand in the air, and a ornate circle appeared in the air.

It flickered for a moment, and the image of Sora appeared in it.

The man rested his chin on his hand. "It appears that I may be able to use this insect after all."

_Firion, Maria and Guy_

Sora groaned as he sat down on the bench that stood in the city square.

Shortly after he had defeated the Dark Knight, the rest of the demons were soon driven out from the city.

From what he heard from Squall, there was talk about invading the castle by week's end.

He was going to help defeat whatever was the threat.

"It's just like back home!"

Sora turned his head to the right to see three people walking down the street; a large man wearing an odd helmet, and an axe strapped to his belt, a purple-haired woman with a bow slung around her shoulder, and a young man with an odd headpiece and a red sword at his hip.

"But, how?" the woman asked sadly.

"Nothing, is safe?" the large man asked, somewhat slowly, as though he was thinking them out as he said them.

The young man then slammed his fist into the wall.

"Dammit!"

"Firion!" the large man said in surprise.

"It was the same back on our world," Firion said. "These things came and attacked and destroyed our home." This caught Sora's attention. "And now the same thing is happening here."

"Firion," the woman said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Please, don't worry."

"How can I not?"

"What about what was important to you? Are you going to give up on it?"

Firion was silent.

"Dream," the large man said.

Firion appeared to be deep in thought before giving a small smile. "That's right, Maria, Guy." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flower.

A rose.

"You said that you wanted to fill the world with wild roses, correct?" Maria asked.

"Nice dream," Guy said.

Firion chuckled. "I want it too come true."

"So do we," Maria smiled.

"And in order to make that dream come true, I can't give up."

"We, don't give up," Guy said.

He stood up straight and turned back to his friends. "That's right. We won't."

Maria and Guy nodded to Firion and they continued on their way.

"Fill the world with flowers?" Sora asked. "Why does he want to plant flowers all over the world?"

"It's not literal." Sora looked to his other side to see Cloud walk up to him.

"It's not?"

"No," Cloud said. "I met Firion a while back, and he explained it to me. At first, I didn't understand it, but now I do."

"What's it mean?"

"He wants a world where people can live in peace and harmony. Aerith and Terra both have similar dreams as well."

"A dream?" Sora said, then looking to where Firion, Maria and Guy had left. "Yeah, that sounds like a nice one."

Please review

Mrfipp


	10. I

Fipp: Now for the (originally last) next chapter! The first Final Fantasy game, where most dungeons shared the same background music, and all battles did.

When the classic eight-bit was like today's HD.

You have to love the old school.

Hope you all like my personal renditions of the Light Warriors.

**I**

_Warriors of Light_

He looked across the city from his high vantage point as it bathed in the setting sun.

Everything was peaceful and calm.

Good. He liked it like that.

But . . .

"Yo!" called a voice from behind. "Everything alright?"

Warrior, clad in polished blue armor, a heavy metallic cape, and a horned helmet upon his head of silver hair, turned around to meet him comrade.

Monk walked up to Warrior. He was dressed in an open light gray robe, bandages wrapped around his hands and forearms, and a white headband tied around his head to keep his messy black hair out of his sight.

"Why are you all the way up here?" Monk asked.

The Warrior turned away and looked back to the city, to Radiant Garden.

"Something troubles me," Warrior said. "But, I'm not sure what."

Monk raised an eyebrow, before shaking his head. "Man, you need to relax, everything's been good for a while! You're just being paranoid!"

Warrior did not answer.

Monk sighed. "C'mon!" He wrapped an arm around the Warriors' armored shoulders. "I bet those guys are fighting again!" There was a glint in his brown eyes.

Warrior sighed, but complied nonetheless.

000

The sounds of metal clashing against metal rang out, echoing throughout the courtyard.

The young man, no older than a teenager, slid back. With a gloved-clad hand he slid back a lock of blue hair back beneath the green bandana that was wrapped around his head and over pointed ears. He was dressed in mostly green clothes, and a small green cape flowed from his shoulder. The heavy leather gloves his wore extended to his elbows, where the sleeves of his shirt ended.

"You're getting sloppy, ya know? Ya really need to get better of you don't want to get your ass kicked by me!" He narrowed his pale blue eyes.

His opponent said nothing. She was dressed in entirely in red; a large red cape draped around her body, a red mask to cover the lower half of her face and a red cap with a large white feather in it. Adorning her cape, hat, long silver hair, clothes and ears were a number of jewels, stones, metals and beads, which Thief estimated that had a combined value to buy the castle.

He once tried to steal these items, but was caught by Red Mage, and was punished.

He still had nightmares about the incident.

She looked back at him.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Thief said. "Or, are you scared that I'll just say something that'll blow your mind?!"

Red Mage stared at him with passive green eyes, and said nothing.

Thief hissed. "You little bitch!" His grabbed the twin daggers tightly. "I'll teach you to disrespect me!"

Red Mage said nothing as she raised her rapier.

000

"I wonder whose going to win this time?" the blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman asked. She was dressed in white robes, white triangles lining the edge of the hood, and the large bell sleeves, and light armor placed on her chest and shoulders. She was sitting on a bench, reading a book, and swinging one of her crossed legs in circular motions, and tapping her other open-toes boot on the ground.

"I wouldn't think you cared about who was fighting, just as long as they didn't fight," said the figure leaning against the wall behind her. He was cloaked in heavy blue robes with numerous arcane symbols sewn into it, with a very high collar that reached above his ears, and a large wide-brimmed, pointed straw hat with grayed edges. The hat and the collar cast a shadow over his face, leaving only mysterious golden eyes to stare out to the world.

"I don't," White Mage said, turning a page of her book. "But, I have to know who'll need more healing after they're done."

Black Mages shook his head. "I say let them get hurt themselves. They'll never learn a damned thing if you keep jumping in and kissing their booboos." Black Mage thought for a moment. "Though, most of the time, it's Thief who starts it, and gets hurt." He mumbled. "Damn stupid kid."

The 'damn stupid kid' then flew to the ground, landing in front of the two mages.

"I hate her," he groaned.

Red Mage, sheathing her sword, walked up to Thief, and held out a hand.

He reluctantly took it, and was helped up.

"Can you believe her?!" Thief said to Black Mage, as Red Mage walked up to White Mage. "The way she just talks down to me! Always insulting me!"

"She's never said a single word in the entire time I've known her. Not a sound."

"She has her ways."

"What? Is the fighting over?" asked Monk as he and Warrior walked up to the four.

"We tied," Thief said.

"He lost," Black Mage said.

"Not cool!"

"I always miss the best parts," Monk shook his head as he walked past the two. "Hey, how about another fight?" He walked between the two female mages, and put an arm of each of their shoulders. "Or, I could just take you two lovely women to dinner."

Less then two seconds later, he collapsed to the ground.

White Mage gasped and began to cast a healing spell on him.

"Why is it you keep casting Bio on him?" she asked Red Mage.

Red Mage really didn't seem to care.

"Just be lucky you're around when she does," Black Mage said. "Because I highly doubt she'll do anything to help him."

"I'm not dead!" Monk said from the ground.

Thief looked to Warrior. "What's got you all down?"

Warrior shook his head. "I'm not sure."

"Is it that new guy?" Black Mages asked. "What's his name? Xena-something?"

"Xehanort," White Mage said, having had finished her healing of Monk.

Warrior sighed. "Yes, it is."

"What's your problem with that guy anyway?" Thief asked. "He seems nice."

"I have to agree with him here," White Mage said, siding with Warrior. "Something about Xehanort just seems off. He just appeared out of nowhere with a strange suit of armor and an even stranger weapon, with no memories of who he is."

Monk groaned as he sat up. "But what are we going to do about it? Even if we don't like the guy, it doesn't matter anyway." He shrugged. "Ansem really seems to like the guy."

"Actually, they've been having some problems with each other lately," Thief said. "They had a falling out regarding on experiments Xehanort was doing."

The other five gave him a look.

"I like to poke around," he said, causally shrugging.

"What do you think?" White Mage asked Red Mage.

She remained silent.

"I agree," Thief folded his arms and shook his head.

"But she never said anything!" Black Mage said.

"What sort of experiments?" Warrior asked.

Thief shrugged. "I'm not sure, I wasn't really paying attention it, but they said something about doors, and hearts, and something about the worlds. But all I do know, is that Xehanort wanted to take it somewhere that Ansem didn't want it to go."

Warrior looked down. "Just what is Xehanort planning?" he asked aloud.

"Who cares what he's planning," Black Mage said. "Even if he does something stupid, I'm sure we can take him out. We're the Champions of Radiant Garden! The personal knights of Ansem the Wise!"

"We can take whatever that guy has planned," Monk said, standing up.

"Speaking of Champions," White Mage began to look around the area. "Has anyone seen our other fellow Champion lately?"

"Now that you mention it," Black Mage said, looking around. "I don't think I've seen him around for a while."

"And he's been distant lately," Thief said.

"Something is wrong," Warrior said, then turning around. "I can feel it in the air." He walked away.

000

Warrior wandered the halls of the castle for hours, deep in his own thoughts.

'_Something terrible is going to happen, I just know it. But question is, what?'_

Several feet behind him, a black spot appeared on the carpet, and it began to ooze wispy shadows.

Two beady yellow eyes rose out of the shadow, attached to a humanoid black creature with two long antennae attached to its head.

It spotted Warrior and leaped to attack him.

It found itself his a sword through its chest.

"What in the name-" Warrior said as the shadow monsters vanished into black smoke.

More of these creatures appeared around him.

Warrior readied his sword and shield, and prepared himself for a battle.

000

A shadow monster was thrown into the Main Hall, dissolving before it could hit the ground.

Warrior exited through the door at the top of the stairs and looked around the room, and saw that it was clear of all shadows.

He heard something approach him from behind, and quickly made to attack it, but stopped his assault before it could cut.

"Oh, it's you," he said, sighing in relief. "You've seen the creatures, yes?"

The figure nodded.

"We have to warn Ansem! If nothing is done soon enough they could take over the castle!" He turned around and looked to the door at the lower level and other side of the room. "For all we know, they've already spread to the city!"

"They already have."

"Wha-?" Warrior turned around, but was struck in the chest, and sent flying across the room, and sent crashing into the wall, then slid down until he hit the floor.

He cried in pain as he tried to push himself to his knee, and looked the figure directly in the eyes. "What are you doing, Garland?"

The massive knight, Garland, began to walk down the stairs, his massive and unique weapon dragging behind him.

"It has come," Garland said.

"What has come?"

"Everything that we have worked for has come into bloom, and soon this world will drown in the darkness."

Warrior glared at Garland. "Drown this world in darkness?"

"Yes. The Heartless Xehanort summoned from depths unknown are perfect for destroying this menial world."

"So, Xehanort was apart of something! But what about you Garland?! You are a Champion of Radiant Garden! Why are you helping the destruction of this world?!"

Garland reached the bottom of the stairs, and chuckled. "I am simply doing what must be done, as it is part of the eternal cycle of life and death!"

He raised his weapon, and made to crush Warrior, but looked to the left and jumped back.

The place he stood a second ago then exploded into flames.

"Goddamn!" Warrior looked to the door on the left wall to see Black Mage, with staff in hand, appear. "You know, that was a perfectly good spell I wasted just then. Don't make me waste another and stay still when I make to kill you!" He pointed his staff at Garland. "Be a good boy, and don't move." A large shard of ice shot from the staff.

Garland flicked his wrist, and the end of his weapon detached itself from the rest and dropped forward on the sword, now making it look like an axe.

Garland swung the axe, destroying the chunk of ice wholly, and sending shards across the room.

He was about to rush forward, to crush the mage, when Thief appeared behind him and swung his daggers.

Garland spun around and stopped the blades on his own weapon.

"Getting slow Garland," Thief mocked, but quickly jumped back when Garland reached for the bottom of the blade and split the weapon in two, giving him two weapons to strike at his opponent.

Warrior reached for his sword, but pain shot through his body.

This pain began to ease when a soft white light appeared him.

"Please stay still for a moment," said White Mage, running up to him.

Garland dodged a blast of lightning from Black Mage, and made to strike at Thief, but Red Mage suddenly appeared between the two of them and sliced at him, as well as threw a fire spell at him.

The knight swung his weapon, prompting Red Mage to jump out of range, but was surprised to see the blade separate from the handle, connected to each other by a chain.

She fell to the floor as the weapon flew over head. Garland quickly called it back and swung it downwards, right at her.

"YAR!" Monk appeared from the side, kicking Garland in the side, and sending him off course. "With gusto!" he yelled, spinning his nun chucks around skillfully.

Garland growled to himself and thrust the reassembled weapon forward, having it extend forward into a lance-like weapon. Monk managed to block this with his nun chucks, but the force from the blow was still enough to push him back.

The knight then spun around and blocked Warrior's attack.

"You still didn't answer my question," he said, grinding his blade against Garland's.

"I did answer your question," Garland said. "This is merely a part of the infinite cycle."

"'Infinite cycle'?"

"You will never come to understand, and because of this we will always be in battle!" Garland knocked Warrior back, having him stumble to where the other five Champions had gathered. "Fate has chosen this day as the beginning of the end! We might as well enjoy what destiny has for us!"

They all readied themselves.

"Then destiny, ends here!" Warrior called.

"End it, if you can!" Garland stabbed his weapon into the ground and brought an armored claw-hand to his face. "I, Garland, will knock you all down!"

The Champions charged.

000

Garland collapsed to the ground, and darkness began to simmer around him.

He chuckled.

"Farewell, Warriors of Light, we shall meet again when the worlds are consumed in chaos." These were the final words of Garland, as the darkness engulfed him, leaving nothing behind.

"We have to hurry," Warrior said, turning to his companions. "There's still time too save the city."

"I don't think so," Thief said, pointing to the door.

They looked to the it to see many more Heartless pouring into the room.

"Not just from there." Black Mage gestured to the rest of the room, as Heartless were filling it from every possible entrance.

"This isn't good!" Monk said.

"Have we, failed?" White Mage asked aloud.

Red Mage pointed her sword at the shadows.

"We can't let it end," Warrior said, holding his sword. "We must fight!"

They did fight.

They battled the darkness that was swallowing their world.

While they fought to all their strength, they failed.

The six of them were soon taken by the darkness, making them the last people on the dead world.

000

"_Is it over? Over for all of us."_

"_I can't see anything. Not a damned thing."_

"_We're going to die, aren't we?"_

_. . ._

"_But, it can't be over!"_

"_We still have to . . ."_

_The Warrior tried to remain, but he felt himself slipping away._

_He felt them leave him. First Black Mage, then Monk, then Red Mage, then Thief, and finally White Mage._

_He was about to fade any second now._

_Then, in the distance, he could see a small pinpoint of light._

'_As long as there is even the smallest light, it can battle the darkness.'_

"_Who are you?" Warrior asked._

_He didn't know if the image of the shining woman in front of him was real, or simply a delusion, but he connected to it. He had too in fears if he didn't stay connected with anything, he would fade away._

'_There is someone who will need your help one day,' she said. 'In order to restore balance to the worlds, he will need as many allies as he can obtain.'_

_He felt the woman place her hand on the side of his face._

_Instead of darkness taking him, he was blinded with light._

000

Warrior opened his eyes to see an open blue sky.

He sat up and saw that he was in a large open field, dotted with the occasional tree, and a long dirt path that extended from horizon to horizon.

He looked around and was surprised to see his friends around him, albeit unconscious and lying on the ground.

Warrior would see to them, and make sure that they were alright, and help tend to any wounds they had. Afterward he would tell them about what he was told in the darkness.

He didn't know where they would go, who they would meet, or what they would encounter, but he felt at ease.

Whoever it was that they were supposed to help, they would find him and do so.

It was as though the light that had saved them, was watching over them.

Please review

Mrfipp


	11. XI

Fipp: Due to the MMORPG nature of FFXI, there were no main characters to use. So, instead I picked a member from each of the five playable races that play an important role in one of the game's storylines.

Hope you enjoy.

**XI**

_Hume_

Sora, Donald and Goofy walked up to one of the new inns that had sprouted in the business area of Radiant Garden.

Donald mumbled. "Why do we need to stay at an inn? Don't we already have beds at Merlin's we can use?"

"We do, but Squall wants us to check it out to see how it treats its customers," Sora said.

"I thought he also said that the people running it were-" Sora and Donald muffled Goofy's mouth before he could say anything more.

"Shh!" Donald hissed. "We're not supposed to talk about that! Remember!"

Goofy shook his head and gave a thumbs up.

"Come on, let's go," Sora said as he, Donald and Goofy, walked into the Neptune's Spire Inn.

000

Sora sat up in his bed, and looked around the dark room.

Donald and Goofy were asleep. He knew from experience that trying to wake them up would be pointless.

He slipped on his shoes and silently slipped out the door of the room they were renting.

000

"_I need you three to do something for me," Squall said._

"_What kind of thing?" Sora asked._

_Squall walked over to one of the maps of the city and looked at it, and pointed to a red dot on it._

"_Right here an inn opened recently, and I'm a little suspicious about some of the proprietors of it."_

"_Suspicious?" Donald asked. "What are you suspicious about?"_

"_I've had some meeting with the person to opened it, and while he seems like a good person, I think there's something illegal going down there."_

"_Like what?" Sora asked._

"_Smuggling of illegal goods." He turned back to Sora, Donald and Goofy. "This is a very serious issue._

"_The city is still on shaky legs, and we can't have anyone breaking any laws. I need you three to find evidence of the smuggling and report it back to me."_

_000_

The halls were silent as Sora crept through them.

"Everyone must be asleep this late at night," he said no himself.

He stopped in front of a large flag hanging on a wall.

"If I was a smuggler, where would I hide the stuff I smuggled?" he asked to himself.

"Can I help you?"

Sora yelped and turned around to see a blonde man dressed in blue, gold and black, a turban on his head, and a cape that was draped across his left side.

"Shouldn't you be asleep at this hour?"

"Um, well, I, um," Sora said, stumbling over his own words, trying to come up with an excuse as to why he was up this late. "I, was, looking for the bathroom!"

The man gave him a looked. "There is a bathroom in each room."

"Really? I did not know that! Thanks for telling me, uh-?"

"Aldo," the man said.

"Thank you Aldo! Guess I should be on my way then, huh?" he laughed. Quickly, he then walked passed Aldo.

"Hope you enjoy your night," Aldo said. "Sora."

Sora stopped in his tracks, and slowly turned around to face Aldo. "How did you-?"

"I've seen you around town," Aldo said, his back still facing the Keyblader.

"Are you sure? I've never seen you before in my life."

Aldo then turned around to face Sora. "Then it seems that I've done my job."

"Huh?"

"Nothing, nothing, just simply think aloud." He placed his right hand on his hip. "So, what brings the mighty Keyblader to our humble establishment?"

"So you run this place?"

"That is correct. But please answer me as to why you chose to spend your night here, especially when, as an honorary member of the RGRC, you should have free room and board at their Headquarters, am I correct?"

"Um . . ."

"I find it odd. Though, I must think you have your own reason to be wandering the halls this late at night, and none of my business." He shrugged. "Like searching around for anything that could incriminate an honest business owner such as myself in illegal smuggling and what not."

Sora could hear his heart beat in his ears.

Another shrug. "But, like I said, it's none of my business." He up to Sora and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Well, have a nice night Sora." He gave Sora a kind smile. "I hope we'll meet each other again in the future, and so you know, that despite what Leonhart says, I'm actually a good person, despite what I may, or may not be involved with." He gave one last clap on the shoulder and walked down the hall. "I hope one day you'll be able to read between the lines." These were his last words as he turned a corner.

Sora was alone for several moments before lowering his head and sighing.

_Elvaan_

Sora happily finished off the Sea-Salt ice-cream and tossed the popsicle stick into the garbage can.

Huey, Dewy and Louie suddenly rounded the corner, almost crashing into him, and ran down the way he came.

"Hey!" he called, walking backwards. "Watch where you three are-!"

Another person then rounded the corner and crashed into him, having both of them fall to the ground.

"Uh," the other person groaned, as Sora began to sit up. "Watch where the hell you're going, dammit!"

Sora looked at the girl; she was shorter than he was, and wore a blue shirt and jacket that partially his a lacy undershirt, lacey black shorts, and boots. There was also a red ascot around her neck, a well as a blue jewel pendant. There was an odd, small hat that sat atop her head, which grew long blue-silver hair that reached her waist, though it was bounded at the end to prevent it from flying everywhere.

She also had two long, pointed ears.

"Uh, sorry," Sora apologized.

The girl growled and rubbed her head, before looking at Sora. It looked to him as though she was about to tell him off, but her eyes widened.

"Hey! Aren't you that Sora-kid?" she asked.

Sora pointed to himself. "Me?"

"Yeah? Squall showed me a picture of you."

"You know Squall?"

"Of course I do!" The girl jumped up. "I'm Prishe! And I'm Head of External Security of this town!"

"Really?" Sora pushed himself up.

"Yup." Prishe placed her hands on her hips. "I'm in charge of making sure to keep as many of these Heartless out, and what I don't get is killed by either the Claymores, or the other guys." She shrugged. "Sure, I used to go out there all the times and beat them up for fun, but now I'm getting paid!"

"Wait," Sora said. "You go out there, all alone?"

"Yup."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"I can handle myself," she waved him off. "I've survived countless Heartless attacks, explosions, and the fall of Radiant Garden."

"You're from this town?"

"Got that right." She walked to the edge of the level and pointed towards the center of city, just left of the castle. "Just before everything went to hell, I was raised in a cathedral that was around that general area."

"There was a cathedral?"

"Yeah, but it burned down," Prishe sadly said. "Despite the repair that's been done, there's still a lot of work to be done."

"But, I though Squall said the city was almost done?"

Prishe turned back to Sora and shook her head. "That's just the city, but there's more to this world then just the Radiant Garden." She then ran to the left. "The world to the west!" She then ran to the railing at the other side of the level. "The world to the east!" She ran back to where she started and jumped onto the stone fence. "And the world that lies beyond us!" She touched the pendant that hung around her neck. "The worlds we know are just small parts of everything." She turned back to Sora. "Get what I'm saying?"

Sora thought for a moment. "Kind of, but,"

"Meh," Prishe said, not seeming to care if he got it or not. "Point is, this was a great world once, and what it looked like still seems fresh in my mind."

"Still fresh in your mind?"

"Yeah."

"But it was a decade ago."

"I've always had a good memory."

Sora raised an eyebrow. "But you would have been a little-Wait?" Another thought crossed his mind. "Why exactly did Squall hire you?"

"I just asked for a job, and he gave me one."

"Just gave you one?" Squall normally gave people extensive interviews before even _considering _them for a spot in the RGRC.

"Yeah, well I have know him since he was a kid."

Wait, what?

Prishe chuckled. "He such a cute kid too, always moping around." She appeared to think for a moment. "I think he had a sister, but can't be sure."

Wasn't Squall twenty-five or something?

"Oh, and did you see three ducks run through here?"

So, how could she know-

"There they are!" Prishe ran past Sora and pointed at Huey, Dewy and Louie, who were standing at the end of the street. "You three get back here right now!" she yelled angrily at them at.

"If we come back, do you promise not to punish us?" Huey asked.

Prishe's eye twitched. "If you come back, I just might NOT KILL YOU!"

The three ducks jumped up.

"You're so mean!" Huey taunted.

"You're so terrible!" Dewy mocked.

"You're so ugly!" Louie teased.

They then ran off.

"I'LL SHOW YOU UGLY!" Prishe screamed, and quickly (1) ran off to chase the three down.

Sora was left alone, absolutely confused.

_Tarutaru_

"This stuff is good," Sora said, stuffing another cake into his mouth.

"Sora! Show some manners!" Donald chastised.

"But didn't you just eat three whole cupcakes?" Goofy asked.

Donald ignored him.

"Yuffie was right," Sora said. "This store makes some of the best sweets in the whole city." He, Donald and Goofy were sitting on one of the patio tables outside said sweet shop.

"They are!" Donald said. He reached for a cake, and made to place it into his beak.

"Ohohoho."

Donald stopped.

"Such a rich scent. I think my weariness finally got up and went."

He dropped the cake.

"You okay Donald?" Sora asked.

"So soft and sweet, just like when I was young. This wonderful dessert just melts on the tongue."

The wizard then furiously began to shake, before squawking and leaping from his seat. He spun around and pointed at the table behind him.

"YOU!!!"

"Huh?" Sora asked.

"Hm?" said the person in the chair Donald was pointing at. She turned around in her seat, and Sora could see the small, child-like person in it. She had blonde hair that was tied to either side of her head, a button noise and long pointed ears. Her attire consisted of black, green and white robes.

"Oh no," Goofy covered his face his hands.

"Who's that?" Sora asked.

"My oh my, and who is this who interrupts my snack?" the person said. "I suggest that you turn away, and retreat your way back." She turned around back to her pudding.

"NO!" Donald snapped. "We have a score to settle Shantotto!"

"Shantotto?" Sora asked Goofy.

"A few years ago, the King got a visitor, and she and Donald got into a fight."

"Oh." Sora didn't need Goofy to finish to know what happened.

"He lost, and he's been looking for a rematch ever since."

Shantotto sighed and jumped from her chair. Placing her hands on her hips and turned to face Donald.

"To even the odds is what you wish to do duck? I have no interest in such a thing, and if I did, you'd have no luck."

"Don't you give me that! I'm going to make you pay for humiliating me like that!"

"You are very persistent in trying to challenge me, but my answer will still be the same. I have no desire to beat you to the floor, I don't even recall your name."

"WHAT?!"

"Yes, what would your name be? Dane? Dawn? Ronald? Something like that? It's no matter, as anything you do will feel like a breeze on my back." She then began to walk away.

"Why is she rhyming?" Sora asked aloud.

"Why you little," Donald growled, seething in anger. He brought out his staff and ran after her.

Shantotto stopped in her tracks and shook her head. "I tried to warn you, but you run into fights without thinking so very fast."

Donald jumped into the air, and readied himself to cast every spell he knew.

"But, you shall get your wish and get a taste of a magical blast!"

Donald, then exploded in a burst of fire.

Then drowned in water.

Then thunder crashed him to the ground.

Then large rocks threw him into the air.

Then he met a whirlwind.

Then crashed to the ground via a large ice chunk.

Donald didn't even get a chance to stand up straight when he was engulfed in a powerful light.

"Ohohohoho!" Shantotto laughed as the duck was utterly decimated behind her.

"Ak," Donald coughed out, before turning into a pile of ash.

"I may have to take it back as it was nice to destroy something, which is always so much fun. Letting loose has been a relief, as it has been too long since the last war I won. Oh, and companions of this poor sullen fowl, don't get yourself in too much trouble. Though from the rumors I've heard of you, getting out, for you, it should be on the double. Ohohoho!"

Shantotto, and her pudding, vanished.

"I'll get a dust pan," Goofy said, walking away.

"Donald, are you okay?" Sora asked, kneeling next to his remains.

"It's not my body that hurts the most," he replied. "But it's my pride.

_Galka_

Sora sliced his blade through the Heartless that remained. Looking around the mythril cave, though he couldn't find any of the precious metal that Merlin had sent him here for to use for a magical potion he was making.

He turned around to head further into the cave, when a large armored Heartless attempted to attack him, and it was too close for him to make a proper counter.

The Heartless was then struck from the back by a large shadowy blaze.

Sora instantly recognized that attack.

"Riku?"

"Sorry, but I don't recognize that name."

Out from the shadows of the cave stepped out a large figure with a large upper torso and arms, and a tail. He was dressed in full-body plated black armor, a horned helmet and a threatening black blade in his hand.

"Who are you?" Sora asked.

The large man placed the sword on his back. "I am Zeid." He folded his arms over his chest. "You must be Sora."

How was everyone knowing who he was? "Yeah, that's right. I'm Sora. How did you know that? Do you know Squall?"

Zeid shook his head. "No, I do not know anyone of that name either. I only know of you from what I've heard about the person who wields the Keyblade."

Sora looked down at the weapon. "Wow, guess thing is really making me famous."

"It indeed has," Zeid said, folding his arms over his chest. "Though I would be wary of this newfound fame, should it make you arrogant."

"I'll make sure of that."

Sora nodded to Zeid, and walked by him, but the man spoke up again.

"You confused me for someone else, this 'Riku', correct?"

He turned back to Zeid. "You used an attack I've seen him use before.

Zeid closed his eyes underneath his helmet. "Then it would appear that he is a Dark Knight."

"Dark Knight?"

"Yes, someone who can utilize the power of darkness."

"That sounds like Riku."

"Then he must have done something terrible to obtain that power."

"What?"

"In order to become a Dark Knight, one must walk a tainted path of bloodshed." He reached up and gripped the sword's hilt, then let it go and dropped in hand.

"Riku never-Oh!" Sora started, only to pull his words back upon thinking further into the subject.

"I thought as much." Zeid began to walk further into the cave.

"He's still my friend though!" Sora called, causing Zeid to stop. "Sure, he may have done things that most people wouldn't be proud of, but that doesn't change the fact that he's my friend.

Zeid stood where he was for several moments, before continuing his path down into the cave. "If that is how you see it, then very well."

He soon disappeared into the darkness.

_Mithra_

"I don't know Donald," Goofy said. "Should we really be here?"

"Didn't Squall tell us not to come around here?" Sora asked. "He said he really didn't trust the person who runs this place."

"Come on! We do lots of stuff for lots of people! It's about time we get paid for it!" Donald said strongly. "I heard being a mercenary pays good." He folded his arms over his chest.

Sora and Goofy looked hesitantly at each other, then followed Donald through the door.

The large sign over the door read "Salaheem's Sentinels'.

000

Sora, Donald and Goofy walked into the large office, where they were told the company's president's office was.

"Now, let's see here," Sitting on the desk, which was covered with various papers and a large morning star, was a woman dressed in a red, red baggy pants, a black shirt that showed the front of her stomach, and her upper chest, there were also numerous golden accessories adoring her clothes. Poking out from her orange hair that was parted onto either side of her head by golden hair pieces were two cats ears, and her face had similar cat-like features to them, and her tail swishing behind her.

"'Thanks to President Naja, I learned the true meaning of bravery.'" She smiled to herself. "Dum-dee-dum. Oh, and this one," She picked up another paper. "How I love making these pamphlets for the company. They should be raking in the munny. 'Thanks to President Naja, I experienced my first taste of victory.' Dum-dee-dum, What else do we have?" She looked at another paper. 'Thanks to President Naja, I learned the true meaning of fear.'"

. . .

"We'll just change that to 'fortune'."

"Excuse me?" Sora said.

"Huh?" The cat woman looked up from her paper and looked at them with an annoyed look. "What do you want?"

"Um," Sora started to say.

"We want to be mercenaries!" Donald boasted, stepping forward.

"Rrreally?" Sora noted that she rolled, purred actually, her 'R's. "Wait, arrren't you those Keyblade guys?"

"That's right." Sora summoned his Keyblade.

She grinned, and hopped off her desk. Grabbing the morning star, she slung it over her shoulder. "I'm Naja Salaheem, President of Salaheem's Sentinels. It's a pleasurrre to meet you."

"I'm Sora, and this is Donald and Goofy," Sora said, pointing to each respective person.

"Rowl! Those names just scrrream power! You'll have to right those down, though. I'm not too good with foreign names." She placed both hands on the hilt of her weapon, and began to sway to side-to-side innocently. "Normally, I would have would-be mercenaries go through a test, but from what I've heard of you, I don't think I'll have you do that."

"Really?" Sora said, surprised.

"Yes!" She looked around her desk briefly and pulled a paper out from the mess and placed them in front of the three. "Just sign this, and we can start doing business." She grinned a very Cheshire-like grin.

000

"'I vow . . ." Naja read the contract. "'Through rain and through wind, running not from storms of arrows, and fearing not blasts of magic . . . To defend in times of Heartless attacks . . . And to venture out in times of peace . . .' Uh...let's see here... 'In sickness and in health . . . Through curses and petrification . . . I pledge myself to Salaheem's Sentinels...for all eternity. Signed . . . Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy.'"

"I'm having second thoughts about this," Sora whispered to Donald and Goofy.

"Congratulations!" Naja beamed. "I now pronounce you three official members of Salaheem's Sentinels. Welcome to the world of bein' a Private Second Class."

"Wait," Donald said. "Why are we 'Private Second Class'? You said yourself you were impressed with us! We want a higher rank!

There was a loud crash as Naja slammed the morning star into the table, startling the three.

"Too bad!" she threatened. "You work for me now! You have to work yer way up the ladder just like anyone else! Anyone who says differrrent will have to complain to my spiky friend here." She pointed the morning star at them. "As my employees, you're expendable, and easily rrreplaceable."

"What did you get us into?!" Sora hissed to Donald, who shrugged away.

"President Naja, kupo!" A Moogle in a headband flew through the door and up to Naja. "President Naja!"

"What is it Slitzkul?"

"It's Stiltzkin, ma'am."(2) The moogle's word's fell on deaf ears. "It's about the promotional ads!"

Naja beamed. "Oh how have I been waiting for this news! With this, there'll be a Salaheem's Sentinels on every world you can see in the sky!"

" . . . Actually ma'am, it fell through."

" . . . What?"

Stiltzkin began to sweat. "We couldn't get any advertisement."

Naja paled. "What about the down payment?"

"We lost it. Mr. McDuck didn't approve."

Naja stood still for a moment, before turning around and began to sway. "Hehe," she laughed, dropping her morning star (3). "Look at them fly away!" she said, very far-off. She lifted her arms into the air lazily. "Two-thousand munny! Flying away! Fly my pretties! Fly!"

Sora wasn't sure if she was going to cry, or go into a rage.

She screamed.

Naja picked up her morning star and began to wildly fling it around.

'_I think we better execute Escape Plan B,' _Stiltzkin thought.

"THAT NO GOOD LITTLE RRRAT WITH WINGS!!! I'LL PLUCK ALL HIS DAMN FEATHERS OFF AND RRROAST HIM OVER A FIRE!!!" She screamed and swung her weapon so hard and fast that it flung from her hand.

Everything happened like this:

Naja looked surprise that she lost her weapon.

Stiltzkin jumped, trying to catch the weapon, but missed.

It flew between Donald and Goofy, who watched it soar.

Sora saw it come at his face.

Everything went black for him.

"_Sora!" _

"_Are you alright, kupo?!"_

"_If that broke, I'm charrging you for it."_

(1) Very quickly, Sora later noted.

(2) To my knowledge, there is no Stiltzkin in FFXII. He's only here for cameo appearances.

(3) Which made a loud 'THUD'.

Please review

Mrfipp


	12. XII

Fipp: I decided to mix things up a little this chapter.

And please excuse me is anything is inaccurate, as I've never played this one, and spent the least amount of time on YouTube looking up stuff.

**XII**

_Balthier and Fran_

It was a dark alleyway, littered with the occasional litter.

A rat scurried through it, stopped, and sniffed the air, but quickly fled when a shadow appeared in the middle of the room.

The shadow soon turned into a dark portal, and three hooded figures left through it, and it vanished when they were out.

"This place is creepy," said one of the shorter figures, looking around. "Are we sure there are Heartless here?" He took off his hood.

The tallest of the three reached up and removed his hood. "I'm sure, from what Xemnas said, there are a lot of people here you attach them. Got it memorized?"

"We do Axel." The shortest figure removed her hood. "But, I still can't help but feel uneasy here."

"Xion's right," Roxas said, folding his arms over his chest. "Where exactly are we again?"

Axel appeared to think for a moment. "From what I recall, we're in a series of worlds called Ivalice, think."

"Ivalice?" Xion asked.

"Yeah. Unlike most worlds, where they are so far apart from each other, that they only appear as stars to each other, this series of worlds are real close to each other that they can use airships to get to one another."

"Don't you mean 'Gummi Ships'?" Roxas said.

Axel shook his head. "No. Gummi Ships are used to travel the vast distances between worlds, while normal airships can easily go from the different worlds of Ivalice that orbit around each other.

"Right now, we're at a port where pirates hang out a lot."

"Pirates?" Roxas asked.

"Pirates," Xion said.

They thought.

"Maybe we should be pirates one day!"

"I completely agree!"

Axel only shook his head and walked down the alleyway.

000

While Roxas and Xion had had their doubts about the pirate town, they were pleased to see that there were Heartless roaming the night lit streets.

Though, while they had managed to destroy numerous Heartless, their battles had brought them unwanted attention from the local populace.

This had resulted in the local pirates throwing themselves into the fights, not only against Heartless, but against the Organization members as well. It was because of this, they had to retreat many times, though several times they weren't able to get away fast enough.

"If I didn't know better," Axel said, rubbing his jaw. "I'd say it wasn't attached to my head anymore." He made a quick tug at his jaw, making a loud snapping noise. "AGH! There, much better. Man, I didn't know those liz-"

"Axel, remember what happened five minutes ago?" Xion said.

"Yeah yeah." Axel had called a lizard-like man a lizard. Apparently, despite the fact they looked like lizards, they didn't like being called that.

"Axel! Xion!" Roxas called. He pointed a head of them and saw a large Heartless wreak havoc among several people.

Axel was the first one to jump. He quickly summoned up his chakrams and flames. He threw one at the monster, embedding the weapon into hide, before throwing the other one at it.

Both weapons then exploded in flames, causing the Heartless to collapse and crash into a building.

"I'm glad that Xemnas doesn't make us pay for damages we cause on missions," Roxas said. Xion nodded in agreement.

"There," Axel said, summoning his weapons back to him. "I think we've had enough work done for the night. We should get-"

A small portion of the wall behind him exploded.

"Wha-?" Axel spun around and blocked several small projectiles that came rocketing at him. "Hey! Who's these?!"

"Now did you have to do that?" said a man stepping out from the shadows, with a gun slung over his shoulder. "That was one of my favorite bars. They had excellent wine too."

Axel narrowed his eyes. "Just who the hell are you?"

The man only smirked. "Why, I'm the leading man."

"Seem a little smug there, don't ya think? And before we get too off topic; why the hell did you shoot at me?!"

"Well, I did say that pub had excellent wine, did I not?" He adjusted the gun and pointed it at Axel. "Also, I find it curious that an oddly dressed fellow such as yourself, would show up only shortly after these creatures do so. Care to explain this to me?"

Axel smirked. "Sorry, but that's none of your business!" Axel's weapons flamed in his hands.

"You're going to be trouble, aren't you?"

"Axel!" Roxas called. He and Xion called out their Keyblade and were about to charge into the battle when a woman stepped in front of them.

The odd thing about her, beside the revealing armor (1), was the long pair of rabbit ears that sat atop her head.

"It would be best if no one interrupt this," she said, turning around to Axel and the man.

"Get out of the way!" Roxas said.

"Do not worry about your friend," she said. "My partner has no actual intention of hurting him."

"What do you mean?" Xion asked.

She folded her arms over her chest. "Earlier today we had attempted a raid, but due to circumstances beyond out control, we were unsuccessful in it."

"Really?" Roxas wasn't sure if he cared about this or not.

"Yes, and despite all his sophistication, he is in many ways still a child, and thus will pout as such unless he has his tantrum."

"That's not the kind of thing I like hearing about myself," the man said, dodging one of Axel's attacks. "So, therefore, I did not hear it." He fired, but Axel dodged.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Though, it may be a while."

The two young Nobodies sighed, and sat down on the ground.

_Basch fon Ronsenburg_

Roxas opened his eyes and looked up just in time to have sand fall into his eyes.

"AGH!" he cried, jumping up and trying to rub his to get the sand out of them. When he was done, he looked around to see if he could find either Axel or Xion.

Neither one was there.

He got up and ran out of the room.

000

Xion walked through the halls, trying her best to avoid the less than appealing residents of the prison.

She knew that the three of them should have been more careful in that airship.

She wanted to find Axel and Roxas, fast, and get out of here very fast, as she did not feel at all safe in here.

There were then heavy metallic footsteps and quickly brought out her blade and hid in a small alcove.

The footsteps became louder as the person approached. From the shadows she watched as the armored man walk by her.

He was several meters away when she heard him stop.

"There's no use hiding," he said, his voice muffled by the horned helmet he wore. "I already know you're there." He lifted his weapon, a staff with a blade at each end, and grabbed it with both hands, then pulled it apart.

000

"Dammit," Axel said, walking away from a scorched hallway. Had he been in a better mood, he would have made a 'roast pig' joke.

He wasn't too sure on how long he had been looking for Roxas and Xion, though he knew that he had been looking long enough to become very irritated by the face he hadn't had found them.

Another groan. He walked down a hall and soon stopped in his tracks.

"Well, don't see that every day."

Now finding himself in a sizable room, Axel now faced himself with a ragged man in iron shackles, hanging in an iron cage, which was in turn, hanging over a large hole in the ground. The shadows in it prevented him from seeing the bottom.

Axel looked around the room. "Looks like a dead end." He shook his head. "Man, I'm so lost. How am I going to find those two?" He made to turned around but-

"It's been a while since I've had any visitors," said a voice, raspy from disuse, from behind. "Well, at least any ones that could provide enjoyable company."

000

The wall exploded, and Xion was thrown against the wall, then slid down to the floor, and her Keyblade falling out of her grip.

"So," the armored man said, walking through the hole in the wall. "She is one of these wielders of this 'Keyblade'. For some reason, the Empire is in need of your weapon, and with reports that two children wielding such weapons have come here, to the prison that hangs over my world."

Xion groaned in pain, blood pouring from the large cut on the side of her head. She tried to stand back up but the man knocked her down again. "Surrender, there is no hope for you." He raised his arm, the one with the larger of the two blades, and swung down.

It clashed against a weapon.

Underneath his helmet, his eyes narrowed. "Another one?"

Roxas glared at the man, and made to push him.

000

Axel stared at the man. "I thought you were dead. Looked dead."

"I'm not dead," the man said. "As you can clearly see." He looked down at himself. "Though, I can see why you would think that."

"Doesn't look like you got one of the best rooms in this hellhole. Must have really screwed something up to end up here."

The man looked down, and was silent for several moments before speaking. "Yes, yes I did. But, I will not give up hope because of it."

Axel raised an eyebrow.

"Tell me, what have you done to be thrown into these dungeons?" the man asked.

"Who cares. I just need to find my friends, and then I'm outta here."

"Your friends?"

"Yeah. I'm worried about them, they're just greenhorns after all." He folded his arms over his chest and shook his head. "This place defiantly isn't the kind of place for kids."

"Then why are you here?"

"Huh?"

"Go. You are correct; this is a dangerous place indeed. So you should go and find them."

Axel stared at the man. "Not really sure why you care so much about why you care about my personal life," he turned around towards the exit, "but that doesn't matter. I'm going to find them." He then walked away.

The man nodded. "That is good. We must defend what is precious to us."

000

Roxas slid back, breathing heavily. "Dammit," he said. He looked across the room to where Xion was, slumped against the wall as she had fallen unconscious.

The armored man held his two weapon in front of him horizontally. "Tired already?"

"I can keep going." He was lying. He felt as though his arms were about to fall off from all the blocking he was doing.

"Just surrender, there is nothing more you can do."

Roxas shook his head. "No. I have to keep fighting. I don't know what you want, or why you want it, but you're not laying a hand on Xion."

The man felt like laughing, but he didn't. "Is that so?" he sneered. "Then that is all the more reason to stop defending her."

"What do you mean?"

"All we care for will eventually stripped away from us. All we defend will be lost. There is nothing anyone can protect, and because of that we will only know despair and emptiness."

"That's not going to happen." Roxas growled. "I'm protecting all my friends."

"Then, allow my to take it all away!" the man held the two weapon in front of his vertically. It looked as though he was about to perform another attack, when a wall of flames appeared around him.

"Roxas!" No. XIII turned around to see Axel, with Xion slumped over his shoulder, standing near a portal. "Come on! We have to go!"

Roxas looked back to the flames one more time to see the armored man run out of the flames, before going through the portal.

The man saw the portal vanished as the flames died away.

He simmered in rage for several moments before storming down the path Axel had arrived from.

_Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca_

Roxas, Axel and Xion walked out of the portal.

The blonde wiped his brow. "Just how many of these worlds rotate around each other anyway?"

Axel appeared to think for a moment. "I think there are five." He looked around the area. "And Xemnas wants us to search all we can."

Roxas and Xion lowered their heads.

"Wow." They looked up to see Axel had walked up to a small wall and was looking over the edge. "We are real high up."

"How high?" Xion asked, as she and Roxas walked up to the wall and looked over it.

. . .

"Is that the ground?" Roxas asked.

"It's so . . ." Xion started.

"I think this city is in the air," Axel said.

"That's great."

Roxas stood away from the wall, slightly unnerved at the prospect at falling to his death. "Let's go." He walked away, with Axel and Xion behind him.

000

"Guess there are no Heartless here," Roxas said, after the three of them had traveled the city for thirty minutes not have seen a single Heartless.

"Looks like this has been a wasted trip," Axel said, rubbing the back of his head.

Xion nodded her head in agreement. She looked around the market place.

Her eyes widened in surprise and she grabbed Roxas and Axel by the wrists and pulled them into an alley.

"Xion?" Roxas asked. "What are you-?"

"There!" Xion pointed out of the alley, to a small group of armored soldiers.

"Wait, aren't those the guys who-?"

"Yeah! Those are the guys who threw us into that prison!" Axel growled. "I say we get back at them!" Axel summoned a chakram

"No!" Roxas said. "We can't just attack them!"

"But they used police brutality on me last time!"

"You were making very large explosions," Xion said. "In fact, if they had showed up any later, the ship, along with us, would have blown up."

"Still . . ." Axel kicked at a pebble.

"And I don't think it's wise to going attacking soldiers in their own lands."

"Actually, this city is neutral." The three of them turned around to see a young woman approach them. "While this city acts as a port to all the worlds, it has no ties with any of them."

Roxas sighed. "That's good to know. We kind of had a bad running in with them a while back."

The woman shook her head. "I am not surprised." She looked to the soldiers and scowled. "These people, they take everything from anyone. Their goal is nothing but domination, and if they say anything else, it is nothing but lies.

"Sounds like you don't care for them either," Roxas said.

She then turned her scowl on him. "You have no idea." She then turned around and went back down the way she came.

Roxas wasn't sure, but he though he saw her face soften into a sadder expression for a moment when she said that.

_Vaan and Penelo_

"I like this place," Roxas said as he, Axel and Xion walked through the crowded streets of the bazaar. "We've been here almost twenty minutes and no one's tried to kill us yet."

"That's always a good thing," Xion said. "Though, it is kind of hot here."

"There is a desert outside the city wall."

"Really? I'm not that hot," Axel said.

"You saying you're hot is like Luxord saying he's bored with those playing cards of his," Roxas flatly said.

Axel shrugged. "Meh."

"Though, there are more of those Empire guys though," Xion said, gesturing to several armored guards that stood by one of the doors that lead to the outside.

"Man, these guys are everywhere, aren't they?" Axel said, scratching his head.

"That woman said that they were out to control everything," Roxas said. "Maybe this place is one of those places they took over."

"I wouldn't be surprised."

Someone then bumped into Axel as they were running by.

"Sorry!" the person called, before he ran into the crowd.

"Hey!" Axel called after him. "Watch where you're going!" He glared at where the person went. "Wait." He patted his pocket. "Dammit! The kid stole my wallet!"

He went racing into the crowd, chasing after the thief.

Roxas and Xion exchanged a glance before following after them.

000

"Where did they go?" Roxas asked as he walked onto the bridge. He had tried to follow Axel, but had lost track of them, and soon separated from Xion, in the large crowds of various people and races.

No longer able to see Axel, nor Xion, Roxas leaned against the stone pillar and looked up and down the bridge.

"You!" he yelled, sprinting down the bridge and catching the blonde boy by surprise.

"Huh?" he said, turning to face Roxas. "What do you want?"

"You stole my friend's munny!"

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did!"

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did!"

"No I did-Hey!" he turned around just as the munny pouch he was trying to keep out of Roxas' sight was ripped from the hand he was hiding behind his back.

The girl in braided blonde pigtails only shook her head. "Vaan, what have I told you about stealing?" she asked. She then walked by Vaan and handed Roxas back Axel's munny. "You have to forgive him," she said. "I keep telling him to quit it, but he never listens to me."

Vaan placed his arms behind his head. "I didn't see you argue with the results yesterday, Penelo."

Penelo turned to Vaan. "That's because you stole from the Empire's guards. As citizens of the world they've taken over, we have every right to get back what they've taken."

Vaan grinned in victory.

"Not from a poor passerby."

Vaan frowned.

"Now say you're sorry."

He growled.

She smacked him on the back of the head.

"Ack! Sorry, okay!" he said to Roxas.

"Don't worry about it," Roxas said. "Though, I wouldn't let my friend you stole from, otherwise he'll probably set you on fire."

"Yeah right."

"No. I'm serious. He may actually set you aflame."

" . . oh."

Penelo began to walk away. "Come on Vaan, we have a lot of errands to run today."

"Right, right!" Vaan called. He was about to follow her when a large shadow passed over the bridge, causing both him and Roxas to look up as the massive airship gently soared above them.

"Wow," Roxas said. Despite the fact he had seen numerous airships during his travels in this world, they still impressed.

"One day . . ." He heard Vaan said.

He was going to ask him what that meant, but he had already began to walked down the bridge, following his friend.

Roxas, after several moment, pocketed the munny and left to find his own friends.

(1) It is an odd fashion statement to wear revealing armor, as armor is supposed to protect your body, and not expose skin. This defeated the whole purpose of armor, as Roxas would later think.

Please review

Mrfipp


	13. XIII

Fipp: In light of these last three chapters, I have decided to write a Dissidia fic, in which characters from XI, XII and XIII are added the mainstream cast.

It won't be a remake of the entire game, I'm only writing (and in several cases, rewriting) the scenes that involve these characters.

Care and guess who will be added? Both heroes and villains?

Also, there is a bonus chapter after this one.

Also, like the last chapter, this one also has something different in it.

**XIII**

_Hope Estheim_

Sora grabbed the bag that held six bars of Sea-Salt ice cream, thanked the ice cream vendor, paid, and began to walk away.

As he walked by the flyer board, which was always covered with numerous posters advertising numerous things, something caught his eye.

"Huh?" he asked. Using his free hand, he picked at the flyer and read it. "I don't get it?"

"Don't get what?" Sora looked to his left to see a boy his age walk up to him. He looked a bit like Riku.

The boy looked at the flyer. "Oh, that? That's a fireworks festival."

"Fireworks?" Sora looked into the sky. "But, how can you see them? It's always the same time of day?"

The boy shook his head. "No, not really. While Twilight Town is always in dusk or dawn, twice a year the sky is either bright as day, or dark as night. On the day that it's dark, we have a special fireworks festival to celebrate it."

"Really?" Sora chuckled. "It's funny, we kind of have something like that back home."

"You're not from around here?"

Sora shook his head. "No, I'm from out of town. Way out of town. I'm just here visiting some friends." He looked back down to the poster again. "What's this festival like?"

"It's real big, and lots of people come over to see it. It's kind of for kids, so I'm not really into it that much. My mom like it though."

"It sounds like fun to me." At his island's firework festival there was always lots of food to eat, and prizes to win. There was also a legend that if you wished upon them, it would come true. "Maybe I'll stay an extra day or so, just so I can catch it."

The boy shrugged his shoulders and began to walk away. "Maybe."

_Sazh Katzroy_

"Hey, Cid!" Sora called, walking into Radiant Garden's Gummi Garage.

"Yeah!" the two Cids called back.

"Hey there Sora," said Cid H.

"What brings you here?" asked Cid P.

Sora shook his head. "Squall called me and said you had some upgrades for the Gummi Ship me, Donald and Goofy use."

"We did?" they asked themselves. "We did!" They snapped their fingers.

"That's right!" Cid H. said. "We did tell Squall to send ye down here because of an upgrade for yer ship."

"Follow me," Cid P. said as he walked through a large door that lead to an outdoor aerial platform. "Right now we're having a ship test it out, to make sure all the kinks are worked out."

"What's this thing do?" asked Sora, who, along with Cid H., was following the short man.

"This new component is supposed to greatly cut down the lag time down after you do some impressive spins," Cid H. explained. "Yer gonna have an easier time fighting enemies in space."

There was then a loud _VROOM _from above them.

Sora looked up to see a reddish-orange Gummi Ship descended from the sky sly, landing down on the center of the aerial pad.

The glass dome that sat atop the ship opened up, and a dark-skinned man with an afro jumped out of the ship.

He dusted his hands off and tuned his attention to Sora, Cid H. and Cid P.

"Hey guys!" he called, waving a hand in the air as he walked over to them. "Glad you're here."

"Finished with the testing already?" Cid P. asked.

"Yup," the man said. "That new upgrade's working wonder. That baby is a smooth thing to handle."

"That's good to hear," Cid P. said.

"Now, all we got to do is give it to that kid you talked about, and see if it's safe to work in the high-stress situations of interstellar combat without exploding like we've been having problems with."

"What?!" Sora yelled. "IT EXPLODES!" he yelled to the Cids.

"This is the kid, isn't it?"

"Yup," said Cid H.

"Don't worry Sora, it only explodes if it overheats," said Cid P. "And we've fixed that problem."

"We think. We're still testing."

"On me! Why not make him do it!" Sora pointed to the man.

"But Sazh is one of our best pilots," Cid H. said. "We can't having him flying into space with unstable equipment into a situation where he would blow up?"

"And I can't blow-up!" Sazh said.

"And me blowing up is better?!"

"I got a kid. Do you want my kid to be an orphan?"

"That's horrible of you Sora," Cid H. shook his head.

"Wanting to orphan children," Cid P. finished.

"Eh, but!" Sora tried to say something, but he had a feeling that nothing he could say would make any difference. "Fine, I'll bring my Gummi Ship around to get installed with the upgrade."

Sazh nodded. "Good. And if you blow to smithereens, then we'll need to work on something better."

Sora wondered if he should write a will.

_Oerba Dia Vanille and Oerba Yun Fang_

Sora's home of Destiny Islands was a chain of islands, with each islands having its own name. From smallest (1) to largest they were named Cornelia, Fynn, Ur, Baron, Lix, Mobliz, Edge, Balamb Garden, Lindblum, Besaid, Jeuno, Rabanastre and Bodhum respectively.

Selphie lived on Balamb Garden. Tidus and Wakka lived on Besaid. Kairi lived on Rabanastre. Riku lived on Fynn. While Sora himself lived on Ur (2).

Since each of his friends had something better to do, Sora had decided to simply wander around the islands. Currently, he found himself on Mobliz.

After walking around the streets, simply looking for something to do, when something caught his eye.

Two women, one with black hair, and the other in red pigtails, dressed in odd clothing, blue and red respectively, looking around the area as though they were lost.

"Hey, you guys okay?" he asked, walking up to them. They both turned to him, seemingly surprised by his appearance.

"Yeah, we're okay," the black-haired woman said, moving in front of the redhead. She had a very odd accent.

"Are you sure? You don't look it? Are you from out of town or something?"

"Yes, far away," the redhead said. She had the same kind of accent. "Very far away."

Sora scratched the back of his head. "Heh, I know how that feels. Hey, how about I show you around? It looks like you need a guide."

"No thank you," the taller woman said. "We don't-"

"Come on, I insist!" Another thought occurred. "How about I tell you about the island over lunch? I know a great restaurant not too far away."

As Sora walked away, he didn't notice the two woman exchange uneasy glances, before following him.

000

"Order anything you like, I'm paying!" Sora said, as he and the two woman sat down at a table inside a restaurant . He handed them their menus.

The two woman took the two menus and looked them over.

"Yours is upside-down," Sora said to the redhead.

"Huh?" she said, then slipping it right side-up. "Ehe, sorry."

"She's a bit of an airhead at times," the other woman said quickly.

Sora didn't give this any thought.

After several more minutes of looking over the menus, Sora had decided what to eat, while they didn't.

"You know, if you don't know what to get, how about today's specials?"

"We'll do that then!" the taller woman said, slapping her menu down onto the table.

While he tried to make conversation with the two, they seemed very recluse, and unwilling to give much information about themselves, and what information he tried to give about himself only seemed to confuse them, even if it was about things that were common knowledge.

"Food's here!" Sora said, thankful for the arrival of their lunch, as this meeting was getting awkward.

After the waitress placed their food in front of them, for some odd reason, the woman clasped their fingers together and bean to mummer something in an odd language.

They stopped when they noticed the odd look Sora was giving them.

"Was that some kind of spell?"

"Um, yes!" the redhead said.

"Okay," Sora shrugged. Donald always said things he didn't understand. Though, he wasn't sure if that was because it was the spell's incantations were in another language, or just Donald's normal speech patterns.

Things got a little odder when the black-haired woman poured half a salt shaker onto her food.

After five minutes of more awkward conversation, the black-haired woman pushed herself from her chair. "Hey, can I talk to you for a few minutes?"

"Yeah, sure." After Sora paid for the meal, he and the two woman exited the restaurant, and he followed her into an alley.

"What do you want to-"

Her fist met his face.

000

Sora wasn't sure how long he was out. He only knew was that his face hurt, and he most likely had a black eye.

Oh, and his wallet was gone.

If Riku or Kairi asked what happened, he was mugged by five very large guys with guns.

There was a flapping noise, and Sora looked up the edge of a roof.

"An owl?" he said to himself.

Just as quickly as Sora saw it, it flew away.

_Lightning and Snow Villiers_

After having recovered from the ambush of the two women, who had long gone after they had knocked him out, Sora had once again taken to his trek across the islands.

Currently, he found himself walking the beach on Bodhum.

He was enjoying his peaceful walk when he suddenly heard a loud screech.

Turning around to the shoreline, he saw that several Flan-type monster were crawling out of the waters.

Growling to himself, Sora summoned the Keyblade and rushed to defeat them.

Monster attacks from the sea, caves or jungles was not something that was totally uncommon on the islands.

The blade sliced clean through one of the remaining Flans, and he heard another screech behind him, almost too close for him to properly counter.

There was then a loud gunshot rang though the air, and the Flan's head then exploded.

"Huh?" Sora looked to the Flan as it was dissolving into a puddle, and looked around to see where the shot had come from.

"You guys are more trouble than help." Sora turned around to see a tall, pink-haired woman walk up to him. In her hand was an assault rifle. The pauldron on her left shoulder instantly let him know she was a member of the Guardian Corps, a group set up by a previous mayor to settle domestic problems such as monster attacks.

"Thanks there," Sora said, walking up the woman.

"Just get out of here," she said. "This is official business, and you'll only get yourself killed when you mess up. I don't want to be held responsible for that."

Sora was a little hurt by this comment. He had taken out things that make Flans monsters look less threatening then flan desserts.

"But I-" Sora started to say, just as more Flans jumped out of the waters.

The woman gave an annoyed sigh and, with a flick of her wrist, shifted her rifle into a sword.

"I told you to leave," she said.

"Sorry, but if there's something I can do to help, then I'll do it."

The woman became very annoyed at Sora's persistence, but said nothing and opted to ignore him. She ran into the horde of Flans. Sora, to her annoyance, followed.

After several more minutes of fighting off the monsters, a loud humming noise could be heard from the air.

"Great, just what I need," the woman said.

"The hero has arrived!"

Sora looked up to see a hover bike fly down towards them.

The person flying the craft, then pulled out a gun, and leashed a steady stream of bullets that instantly killed the remaining flans.

The hover bike then swooped down, and landed on the beach.

Sora instantly recognized the (very) tall man as he jumped off the bike.

"Hey Snow!" Sora called, waving to the man.

Sora had seen Snow numerous times around the islands, most times at a café run by him and some friends of his.

"Hey Sora!" Snow waved to him as he walked up to Sora. "Hey Lightning!" That must be the named of the Guardian Corps officer.

Lightning didn't reply to his greeting, and simply turned around and walked away.

"Oh come on!" Snow called as ran up to the woman. "You can at least say hi to me! What's the worst that could happen Sis?" He made to put an arm around her shoulder, but she quickly stopped this action by (painfully) elbowing him in the stomach.

"Don't call me 'Sis'." Lightning said, walking away as Snow collapsed to his knees.

"Are you okay?" Sora ran up to Snow.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, though it was obvious he was in some pain.

"I'm guessing she doesn't like you much."

"Yeah, I kind of figured," Snow then stood up. "But, I promised my girlfriend, who is her sister, that I tried to get along with her."

"And that's not working, it seems. You have any plan to make this work?"

Snow grinned. "Nah. After all, heroes don't need plans." Snow then ran after Lightning.

_Serah Farron _

Sora let out a content sigh as he lay on the beach, bathing in the dusk.

He should probably be heading home soon.

. . .

Maybe five more minutes.

"Are you okay?"

Sora grumbled and opened his eyes to see a pink-haired girl that was maybe a few years older then himself crouching next to him.

"Yeah," he said, sitting up and stretching his muscles. He must have been a sleep longer then he originally thought judging from how much further down the sun was.

"What are you doing out here so late?" she asked.

Sora patted the sand out of his hair. "Guess I fell asleep. What about you?"

The girl stood up and clasped her hands behind her back and began to walk towards the water. "I just came here to think about some things." She gave a light kick to the waves as they came in.

"What kind of things?"

"They're kind of personal."

"Oh. Sorry."

She shook her head. "Don't be. Though, I think I've about figured out what I need to figure out."

"What did you figure out?"

"I had a dream not to long ago, and in it I did something terrible. And since then, several things have happened that caused me to put distance between the people who are close to me. But," she smiled, "someone special to me helped me realize that he's always there for me." She turned to Sora. "Those same people I distance myself away from each other, are the same people who I want to be the closest to. As long as their with me, I'll be okay." She looked away. "I probably sound silly."

Sora shook his head. "No." He jumped up and stood on his feet. "There were times when my friends helped me out. I actually doubt I'd be here without their support."

The girl looked at him for several seconds before smiling. "Thank you." She then departed, leaving Sora to himself.

(1) The smallest island being the play island.

(2) Care to guess why I stuck Sora, Riku and Kairi on those specific islands?

Please review

Mrfipp


	14. Bridge

Fipp: If you know who this chapter is about, just from the title, you are more then awesome.

Now prepare to listen to one of the greatest battle music to ever grace Final Fantasy!

**Clash on the Big Bridge**

"Where do you think he is?" Terra asked. "He's an hour late."

"I don't know, usually he greets us," Aqua said. "Something might have happened to him."

"Like what?" asked Ven, who was balancing his Keyblade on the top of his head.

Several hours ago, they had been asked by their master, Master Eraqus to meet on one of the large bridges that separated the land which the castle stood on, from the rest of the world.

Ven tripped, dropping his Keyblade.

"Forty seconds," Terra said. "One second short of breaking your record."

"Aw man." Ven dropped himself backwards. "So close, yet so far."

Aqua, while normally the most patient of the three, was beginning to feel her patient waver at the absence of their master. This was demonstrated as she tapped the side of the bridge in an agitated manner.

Terra sat down to the ground. "I wish something would happen."

"_Your wish shall be granted!"_

The three stood to attention at the sound of the loud voice. Heavy laughter then rang through the air and they looked to the sky.

Flying though the air was a wavering red cloak. The laughs it was emitting was sinister, and full with ill-intent.

The readied themselves y summoning their Keyblades, preparing to fight whatever this creature was as it as it dove for the bridge, aiming to land on it.

Instead, it crashed into the bridge, and bounced off into the air below.

". . ." was the reaction of the three Keybladers.

The figure then appeared over the side, and landed on the bridge. They could now see that it was a large, eight-armed man dressed in a red cloak. In each hand he held a sword.

"I meant to do that!" he held. "Now we fight!"

He then rushed at them.

000

Despite the humorous introduction the man had given, he had proven to be a powerful opponent, giving the three Keybladers a difficult time in defending themselves.

After several minutes of intense fighting, he fell to his knees.

"It would seem, that I cannot fight three opponents at once," he said. Suddenly he jumped up. "Shell! Protect! Haste!" The three spells appeared around him, buffering him up. "Ha! As if I could loose to you!"

They continued their fighting again.

Ven was thrown back by a powerful swing, but managed to land on his feet.

"Hey! Red guy!" he called. "Just who are you anyway?"

Their opponent lowered his stance and stared at him with glowing white eyes. "So you ask who I am?" He laughed. "It would seem that tales of my greatness have yet reached this part of this funhouse mirror universe, or you three are just soft in the head!"

"Hey!" Aqua snapped.

"Very well! I shall tell you who it is you face!" He struck a pose. "I am the Greatest Swordsmen in the Worlds! I have traveled east and west in search for the Sword of Legend! And in my journey, it has brought me here, to you! My name is known far and wide as **Gilgamesh**! After this battle, your weapons will be added to my own collection of powerful blades!"

"Powerful blades?" Terra asked, examining each of Gilgamesh's swords. "But, those look like normal katanas."

"Hmp. Do you think I would use my powerful swords at first draw? Fool! But, since you have each proved to be more powerful then I thought, I will do you the great honor of allowing your blades to clash with my own!" He hid his katanas beneath his robes.

"He thinks highly of himself, doesn't he?" Ven asked Aqua.

"Certainly looks so."

"NOW! Behold! My swords of legend!" He began to pull one of his arms out. "The heirloom of the Hewley family, passed down through three generates, the Buster Sword!" He pulled out a large sword.

None of the three had ever seen the Buster Sword, though if they had, they would have noticed it had two extra holes in the blade, and a large Japanese kanji that read 'Fake' imprinted on the side.

"The relentless weapon of the legendary SeeD, Revolver!" It had no trigger, nor keychain, and instead of Griever imprinted on the side, there was a chocobo.

"The dagger of the master thief of Tantalus, Orichalcum!" The blade was too long.

"The water blade of the ace of the Zanarkand Abes, Brotherhood!" There were two hooks on the tip instead of one, the guard had a much different design, and the blade was completely transparent.

"The Dark One's blade! Capable of killing in one strike, Zantetsuken!" Instead of having a lightning bolt design built into the blade, it was a skull.

"The golden sun blade of Ivalice, Tournesol!" There was an additional blade going through the curvy blade, and there was a picture of the moon where there was supposed to be a sun.

"The dual-weapon only used by the most skilled Cocoon soldiers, Blazefire Saber!" The blade had a narrow spaces down the center, technically making it two blades, and it lacked the mechanisms that allowed it to turn into an assault rifle.

"And the weapon used to seal away the darkness, the Kingdom Key!" It had an extra set of teeth coming from the other side of the blade, the bottom part of the hand guard was absent, and the keychain of two feet long.

"With these eight weapons, you shall be smoted!"

"I think it's 'smote', not 'smoted'. That's not a word," Aqua said.

"Are you sure?" Terra asked. "I think I've heard that word before."

"Maybe so, but it's not a real word."

"I think it's real," Ven pointed out.

"Well it's not."

"DO NOT IGNORE ME!" Gilgamesh called. "We are in a fight! And that is not the proper place to go on and talk about proper grammar use! We shall continue this battle!"

"But, what about-"

"Enough expository banter! Now we fight like men! And ladies! And little prepubescent boys!"

"Hey!" Ven took insult to this remark.

"For Gilgamesh, it's morphing time!"

Gilgamesh charged in once again.

000

While one would expect someone wielding a bunch of fake swords to be a pushover, things only became much more difficult for the trio.

Now wielding these powerful rip-offs, he now began to use more powerful attacks, such as massive explosions, and something Aqua would later refer to as Blue Magic.

Gilgamesh jumped back. "It would seem you three are deserving of high praise. But now we must finish this fight once and for all!" He placed his swords back beneath his robes. "Now, behold the most powerful weapon know to all!" He then drew a golden sword, shining with power, and grasped it with two of his hands in front of him. "The mighty sword, Excalibur!"

"Excalibur?" Terra asked, curious about the blade.

"Yes! Not tremble tiny mortals! Tremble, I say tremble!"

"Like that's going to happen!" Ven yelled. Grasping his Keyblade in its reverse grip, he charge forward and jumped right at Gilgamesh.

"Fool! Face my wraith!"

Both swung their blades.

Ven was quick.

Gilgamesh was quicker.

Excalibur swung at him, striking him in the chest.

"VEN!" Terra and Aqua cried.

Ven flew back as the blade swung forward. He hit the ground rolling, before coming to a stop.

"Ven!" Aqua rushed over to the fallen warrior.

Where he stood, Terra seethed in rage. "You." He turned to Gilgamesh. "You will pay." Small wisps of darkness fluttered around him.

"I will take his weapon when I am done with you." Gilgamesh readied himself.

"Oh, Ven," Aqua said, on the verge of tears as she kneeled down next to Ven, and rolled him onto his back. "Huh?" She was now confused.

"So, this is what it feels like to be dead huh?" Ven said. "I don't feel different."

"You, aren't hurt."

"Huh?" Ven looked down at his chest. "That didn't cut me. Wait, I think there's a small tear in my shirt. No, there isn't."

"Terra! Ven's okay!" Aqua called out. "That sword didn't even hurt him."

"What?" Terra asked, now calming down. He then turned back to Gilgamesh. "Your sword sucks."

Gilgamesh fell to his knees. "I, feel so betrayed." A black hole then appeared around Gilgamesh, covering him from the sights of the three. When it vanished, he was gone as well.

The three stood in silence for several moments, before Ven spoke up.

"Just what the hell was that?"

000

Not too far away, Master Eraqus watched his three pupils.

"They did better then I thought they would," He said. "Though, your methods could have been performed in a less dangerous way."

Behind him, Gilgamesh crossed his arms over his chest. "I cannot get into a fight unless I pour my all into it. I was even able to put use this worthless blade that keeps ending up in my hands to use."

"What did you think of them personally?"

"I liked them. They are strong, and they have much room to grow." He chuckled. "That blonde kid actually reminds me of a person I once met many realms back."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. You have admiral students on your hands. They will certainly leave massive waves in their wakes." Gilgamesh turned around. "Even though the fight itself would be enough of a reward, I do thank you for the weapon you have given me."

"Yes . . . I do hope you enjoy it."

A portal opened up in front of Gilgamesh. "Now, back into the Void I go, in search of more battles to fight, and blades to claim!"

Now alone, Eraqus studied his students more carefully.

As he voiced to Gilgamesh, he did not approve of the ruthlessness he used, but it did allow him to witness what he feared most.

"Terra . . ."

Please review

Mrfipp


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